A Wardrobe
by TurboFerret
Summary: Two dead murderers on the wardrobes  crest  One man kills, other lays them to rest, yo ho, ho and the bottle of rum.  That s what they both do the best
1. Wherever we land

Oi THERE ! I could, of course rant and excuse myself for not writing sooner, for not updating other stories, but I wont - I have the updates half done, but I cant make myself finish them, furthemore - I have a hell of stuff to do. really a lot - and this was a sort of relief for me - to write this - once I get my Christmass holidays, ill finish other chapters - a nice Christmas present to you all but not yet - loads of stufff is cramming over my head -and Ive started drawing more often than I used to - which means - do you realize how much it takes to make a quality picture? well - to a non prefessional like myself - quite much, but its well worth the effort. 

Yours truly,

Morality aka Turboferret

* * *

-„Ow, ow, ow, ow. My head." Tsuzuki blinked to darkness, startled he sat up. He's been laying on his arm, so now it was numb and unresponsive, like a piece of rubber. He shook and tugged on it, trying to get some feeling into the limb while noticing that it was being held back by something. He groaned in annoyance and tugged on the irritating bond. It did move, but not much, so he started feeling around himself with his good hand. His fingertips perceived hard floor, lying beneath a thin layer of sand, a piece of cloth and a limb, which definitely wasn't his.

-„ Ugh." Groaned in a near proximity of Tsuzukis left foot. He fought a desire to kick the groaner.

-„ Who's there?" The shinigami exclaimed, thrashing around frantically, trying to see a glimpse, a faintest spark of light or an outline of the place he was in, although there was nothing but darkness to see.

-"Mr. Tsuzuki?" A husky voice enquired, a bit rough from the lack of use. It sounded like a growl of a bear fresh from hibernation.

-"Muraki . . . MURAKI!!! Muraki, you bastard what have you done to me! Why can't I see, where am I and who have you killed again?" The shinigami fidgeted desperately, pulling away from the source of the voice, which by the way groaned and growled back in irritation.

-"Ow! Mr. Tsuzuki, stop pulling my arm out f it's joint!"

-"I don't care about your arm, where are we? Answer or I'll pull your arm out of its socket." Tsuzuki threatened, making as significant pull that made the doctor swear loudly.

-"Would it upset you greatly, if I said I don't know." Muraki grunted, rustling sound indicating that he was changing his position to a more preferable one, that was also punctured by a tug on Tsuzukis hand.

-"You're lying! What are you planning to do now?" Sounded the irritated voice somewhere near Muraki, so he turned his head in the direction of the sound.

-"Hmm, let's say – persuade you not to maim my arm?" He stated calmly as possible, slightly gritting his teeth, when Tsuzuki shifted again, thus placing the limb into an even more uncomfortable position. Frankly Muraki felt like a turkey on Thanksgivings day. Tsuzuki being the one who wanted to tear a delicious_ wing _offHe heard a little growl from his companion and then a slight twist and pull.

-"You sound as if you were drunk." He heard only faint chuckles on the other end. Not seeing Murakis expressions was quite distressing, although he couldn't quite get why, since doctor's poker faces could make some dealer envious. "Oh you think it's funny?!" Tsuzuki growled now feeling his arm being slowly bent in a different angle.

-"No, I don't, but the echo your voice is causing hurts my head." Now Tsuzuki started feeling that his arm would soon leave its original attachment.

-"Ow, stop it!" The movement stopped as Tsuzuki felt another arm bluntly groping him a little above the wrist. Fingers exploring the tender skin and the shackle, after humming several times, Muraki saw it fit to return his fingers on Tsuzukis forearm, and glide them higher, under the hem of the shirt.

-"Your skin is so soft, Mr. Tsuzuki. Although I can't see you, you still manage being so wonderfully alluring. Come here." Tsuzuki was yanked forward, which set him tumbling head over heels. The man struggled away, feeling the body of the other somewhat under him.

-"What do you think you're doing! Keep your hands away from me!" Tsuzuki yelled and twisted and turned until he found himself in safer distance from the maniac.

-"Tsuzuki san, I find it quite difficult, especially when I'm so close to you and with nobody in my way. . ." Muraki trailed off. "You do see my point. It's a bit like you being locked in one room with the apple pie you like so much."

-"It's not the same!"

-"Why yes it is."

-"Muraki, I don't want to rape my food!" Tsuzuki objected faintly remembering a reference of American pie.

-"It's not the matter of what happens afterwards, but desire itself."

-"Muraki, I don't _desire_ apple pie _that _way!"

-"Come to think of it, you do rape it, with your mouth." Tsuzuki suddenly felt like he wouldn't be hungry for a very long time.

-"When people eat, they're not engaging in an intercourse with FOOD!!"

-"But the pleasure you get from it is a whole different thing, now isn't it?"

-"Oh shut up, I don't care, I'm going in one direction, and don't even think about following me." Tsuzuki finished and stood up; trying to walk, but soon felt being yanked back "What now? More of your ravings about potato salad orgies!"

-"Apparently, Mr. Tsuzuki, we're handcuffed together, isn't it nice?" Muraki mused a foot away from Tsuzukis ear.

-"Nice? Being stuck with you in one place is bad enough, but being stuck to you is disgusting!" The shinigami accented his frustration with another tug on whatever that held them together.

-"Now, Mr. Tsuzuki, you speak as if I carried some dangerous parasites, It's somewhat insulting, regarding that I'm a doctor in a respectful clinic in Tokyo." Tsuzuki could almost see the man brushing his white lab-coat off casually as he spoke.

-"You could be Napoleon or Che Guevara[1 for all I care!" Tsuzuki stated crossly, a pout being heard in his voice.

-"No, no, you overestimate my goals, Mr. Tsuzuki. I'm not an emperor or a revolutionary. Regime change isn't my aim, at least now. Although I'm flattered." Murakis words had obviously startled Tsuzuki out of his meditative state, because he wasn't all that quick to respond.

-"Eh?" He asked sheepishly while digging within confines of his coat.

-"I gather it didn't make much sense to you." Muraki stated a bit annoyed by the lack of attention to his person.

-"What do you think I am, an idiot?" Tsuzuki snapped, just because he didn't like any situation with Muraki involved. Unhindered by Shinigamis less than friendly resolve the white man spoke.

-"NO, well, maybe somewhat, yes." The other fell over.

-"Well, screw you, I'm going home!" Asato finally made up his mind not to challenge the man any further and stood up again.

-"Shame on you, such bad language." The doctor teased, standing up himself.

-"That's what you get for calling me an idiot."

-"If you remember right, I didn't quite _call_ you anything, so you just presumed it yourself."

-"Well, you deserved it anyway."

-"Hmph, it can't be helped, I guess. As for your decision, do you even know in which direction the so called _home_ is?"

-"Away from you that's for sure."

-"Khem, I think you're forgetting something." Muraki remarked casually

-"Oh, right." Tsuzuki scratched the back of his head, not to mention that they were conversing in total darkness.

-"You should really do something about those disturbing memory losses." Muraki sounded concerned.

-"I don't have any!"

-"Now, there is nothing to be ashamed of." He continued, most likely happy that he'd found another sensitive spot.

-"I don't have memory losses!"

-"You know I had a patient once, who was very ashamed of the fact she couldn't remem-"

-"I said I DONT have any memory losses!!!"

-"Are you certain?"

-" Argghh!! Muraki! Did you handcuff us together to annoy me?" Tsuzuki was on the end of his tether.

-"Mr. Tsuzuki, I'm appalled. Do you really think I would consciously put myself in a situation where you and I had equal chances? I would make sure I had something to hang over your tainted conscience, and persuade you to do as I please."

-"Well, maybe your plan failed?" He heard chuckles in darkness.

-"I think you might be developing a persecution complex."

-"Not like you didn't lend a hand in that."

-"Now, do my attentions make you uncomfortable, Tsuzuki san?"

-"Stop acting like an innocent lamb!"

-"But I so like you being unnerved."

-"You're right there."

-"Finally we're reaching some consensus. I wish you knew how much it pleases me." The doctor didn't waste any time, in showing just how much he enjoyed that fact.

-"Ew, stop it this instant!" Tsuzuki pulled away, wiping salvia off of his cheekbone. "Your aim is off."

-"Please forgive me, it's so dark here I have some trouble in locating your mouth, perhaps you'd give me another chance?"

- "Muraki!" Shinigami cried outraged of his boldness.

-"There is no shadow master to stop me this time." The seductive purr was getting closer, so Tsuzukis hand darted in the dark before him to stop the onslaught.

-"Stop it or I'll gauge your eye out!" Tsuzuki was both furious and desperate; he grappled the ground around him, hoping to find anything that could help. He grasped a handful of sand to throw it on the man's face, but his hand was soon pinned down.

-"This again, you're becoming quite a bother, Mr. Tsuzuki." Muraki growled in Tsuzukis ear.

-"The only bother I have is hanging on the end of my hand." Tsuzuki buckled and twisted under doctor's grasp. "Let me go!"

-"Now there is no need to panic, no one will hear us here." Tsuzuki felt the warm breath tickling his ear shell.

-"That's the reason I'm panicking!"

-"Mr. Tsuzuki, why don't you just give into me huh?" Doctor nuzzled Tsuzukis hair and nibbled on the earlobe. Meantime under the onslaught brunettes tormented mind came up with yet another theory of him being right here.

-"Maybe it's a dream?" Tsuzuki tried convincing himself until he got a distinctive pintch on his rump " Ya! What do you think you're doing?!"

-"Why I wanted to convince you that it's nothing but reality, by your reaction I can tell this is quite virtual."

-"Well, maybe it's your dream ." Asato suggested, pushing the yielding wall of chest back.

-"No, Mr. Tsuzuki, you're quite different in my dreams." Muraki chuckled quite amused by Tsuzukis revelations.

-"How come?"

-"Well, where should I start." The surgeon trailed off.

-"Wait, I changed my mind, don't answer that!"

-"All I wanted to say was that you were more cooperative."

-"That's just an excuse."

-"Do you wish me to give an in-depth explanation?" Most likely getting guidance of his better judgment he cut the topic short. "I think we should be going now."

-"Where to?"

-"Do you suggest sitting here?"

-"Well. . . "

-"Mr. Tsuzuki, we don't know where we are and I am not intending to spend the rest of my days here."

-"Me neither!"

-"Well then." The little flame flickered from his lighter. "We should be going."

-"Where are we?" Tsuzuki looked awestruck around the place. They really were in a cave. It might have been a sandstone cave, and the fact it was dry, indicated that they weren't anywhere under the sea level.

-"Or rather why we are here." Muraki corrected the shinigami. "Do you remember what happened before we ended up here?" Tsuzuki shook his head.

-"Actually, I don't remember ever meeting you after Kyoto, except for this moment." Tsuzuki stated as they took a look around the place and saw it being a medium sized cavity in sandstone. There was a narrow passage in the wall of the cave, which could have been the only way out.

-"So you don't remember anything?" Muraki looked a bit disappointed.

-"Nope." Tsuzuki traced his palm over the sandy wall and drew a smilie in it, just because.

-"That s interesting, returning to your memory loss theme."

-"Cut it out! It's getting old." Tsuzuki snapped irritated.

-"Yes, yes, of course." Muraki stated heading towards the narrow earthy passage, dragging Tsuzuki with him.

-"What are you doing?"

-"What's the use of telling you if you either forget or mistrust what I say?"

-"You could still entertain me, out of the lack of a better thing to do."

-"For the lack of any other exit, I gather that this is our way out."

-"Shouldn't we try braking apart first?"

-"I don't regard our bond as a burden, but if you do, by all means, lead the way and free yourself."

-"Where are you going?" Muraki was dragging him through the sandy, passage and Tsuzuki had no other choice but to follow. Light from Murakis lighter flickered on and off, as he let the steel rim cool a bit, not to burn his fingers. Every now and then, the earthy passage would flicker in sight and disappear into darkness again. The passage had low ceiling, so they had to walk almost crouching. Soon Tsuzukis eyes were tired from the flickering light, colorful dots of green and yellow danced before his eyes behind the closed lids and he was annoyed by dragging a step behind the doctor not to step onto his heels. "Muraki, I'm tired, my eyes are sore, where are you dragging me?" Tsuzuki whined.

-"To the exit." Muraki stopped abruptly, as they stood at the entrance to a dim lit hall. Tsuzuki bumped into him. The hall was circular, and there were doors lining the walls. "Or at least I thought it was the exit." He added thoughtfully. When Muraki was about to step inside the room, Tsuzuki jerked him back.

-"What do you think you're doing? This might be a trap!" Muraki glanced at him, light dancing eyes in his eyes.

-"Why, Tsuzuki san, I never thought you cared." He lifted his hand up in attempt to caress Tsuzukis face. The brunette swatted doctor's hand away and sneered.

-"It's just that I'm stuck to you. I don't want to get in trouble because of you doing something stupid." Tsuzuki stated looking in another direction.

-"Well, if you feel so courteous today." Muraki mused, and Tsuzuki was suddenly showed inside the hall where he stood flinching for a few moments and, when nothing happened, he turned at Muraki.

-"What the hell did you think you were doing?! Pushing me inside like that!" Tsuzuki cried blue murder at doctor ho seemed to pay little attention to his tantrum.

-"Since you weren't going to let me check if there were any traps or not, somebody had to do it after all."

-"Bastard." Tsuzuki grumbled and took a look around. In the middle of the hall stood a small glass table. "Wow, look at this, it looks so fragile."

-'It's just a table, Mr. Tsuzuki." Muraki couldn't help but notice.

-"Well, per chance you haven't noticed – there IS a table in the middle of a cave. "

-"Yes, Tsuzuki san, and there are doors in walls around us, so why don't we pay our attention to them, instead of that table. Granted one of these might be our way out."

-"It must have been put there for some reason." Tsuzuki continued his train of thought.

-"Yes, Tsuzuki san, and it's more likely to hold traps than anything else here." The doc went for one door while the shinigami went for the table, and they both were yanked back abruptly by the unknown force of gravitation. Muraki glanced at the bond with distaste. - - "This is becoming quite a bother."

-"Told you so." Tsuzuki couldn't help but gloat. Muraki raised an eyebrow at him, but otherwise stayed silent.

-"We should settle who leads and who follows."

-"I'm not following you." Tsuzuki stated firmly.

-"I don't think you have a choice here, Mr. Tsuzuki."

-"Well, I'm not moving from this spot."

-"You're unreasonably stubborn."

-"Well, that doesn't quite stop you from doing what you want does it?"

-"Precisely." Muraki just picked the shinigami up and flung him over his shoulder as if the other was nothing more than a scarf.

-"Hey, put me down, put me down this instant!" Tsuzuki pummeled Murakis back, but soon found it useless as he was being carried from one door to another with little success – they all were locked. "You know, I can walk myself." He stated when he was bored of examining walls and the tail of Murakis trench coat. The man didn't answer, so Tsuzuki continued counting the doors, when something caught his eye – something glinted on the table he so wanted to see. "Muraki, go to the table, I saw something there!" He heard the other man sigh and he was put down to the ground. Immediately, Muraki was dragged to the table by his hand and much to his displeasure – there laid a key – a quite small one, in comparison to the locks in the doors.

-"Yes, what a useless little trinket." He stated seeing Tsuzukis happy expression.

-"You're saying that only because you're a sore loser." The brunette objected. "This one can definitely unlock something; otherwise it wouldn't have been here!"

-"Your logic surpasses any of my arguments." Muraki stated sarcastically.

-"Well, you tell me, why it is here then." Tsuzuki challenged, putting his hands on his hips.

-"I have no idea."

-"C'mon the infamous Muraki Kazutaka is at loss of ideas?"

-"At least I don't make silly presumptions." The doctor stated, fishing in his coat for some cigarettes. Meanwhile Tsuzuki was looking around for places to apply his discovery.

_Hmm the doors are too big, perhaps it unlocks something within the table? No, this can't be. Perhaps there's a hidden door? But where?_ Tsuzuki looked around curiously_. Hmm, door, door, door, oh, look a cookie!_

Tsuzuki wasted little time on debating why it was there, so he just threw it into his mouth and chewed merrily. It tasted like gingerbread with a bit of butter and cinnamon; frankly it was so delicious, his ears and wagging tail popped out and for the first time that day he was happy.

-"What's happening?" Murakis voice pulled him out of the momentary bliss and he opened his eyes only to notice that the table was growing bigger and bigger – finally reaching over his head.

-"Whoa, it's so big; I never thought I could look at it like this." Tsuzuki stated in awe, "The table grew so rapidly. Maybe it was a hallucinogenic cookie, or I'm developing an Alice in wonderland syndrome."

-"What hallucinogenic cookie?" Muraki retorted quite irritated by Tszuzkis wandering mind.

-"The one I ate jus moments ago." There was a silent pause between them, during which Muraki tried deciphering whether Tsuzuki was joking or not, or whether the thing he ate really had a hallucinogenic effect on him.

-"Well your pupils aren't dilated, which means there was no drug in what you ate, but let me remind you the basics of hygiene – like not eating things you've picked up in places you don't know and aren't sure about their origin. Secondly, you're not the only one who's seeing things."

-"Really? Hmm so either we're both going insane, or it's just a dream."

-"I think we had gotten over the dream part already, or would you like me to prove it again?"

-"No thanks, first time was convincing enough."

-"Hm let's see, you ate something, and we both became smaller."

-"No, the table and other things grew."

-"It doesn't matter, it affected us both."

-"No, no, you don't get it, the cookie was charmed so that when somebody ate it – all things got all big. That's why we both see it, if the shrinking effect was caused by a cookie, then why by all means are you the same size as me?"

-"I don't know, but making things around us change size, requires a lot of magical output, and I felt none."

-"Actually none of our theories is plausible enough."

-"Let's leave it at that then."

-"Ok, oh, I wanted to ask though – how did you survive? You know Kyoto and all." Tsuzuki asked abruptly. Muraki blinked for a moment. That wasn't the question one might expect after waking up being chained to your desired one in the middle of who knows where and after a session of shrinking.

-"I was saved by the terrible white light." Muraki shrugged as if it was something obvious like eating breakfast.

-"You're joking, right?"

-"No, I'm completely serious, why do you ask?"

-"Well, aren't you taking it for granted? I mean, didn't you get curious eventually – about who could have done it and why?"

-"Yes, I did."

-"And?"

-"You know, Tsuzuki san, you look wonderful today."

-"Muraki, you're avoiding my question, awkwardly at that."

-"Yes, I know. I thought you might get the hint"

-"You're not going to tell me."

-"Yes." Tsuzukis features changed in such progression – first there was amazement, then suspicious frown and then – an expression of utter terror.

-"S- s –s-SPIDER!!!" Tsuzuki was terrified – pointing over Murakis shoulder.

-"Now really, Tsuzuki san, it's a mere arachnid, and surely it cannot cause you any harm." Muraki continued in a calm tone, until Tsuzuki got a grasp of his shoulders and spun him around.

Murakis eyes widened.

-"Holy shit!" There were eight hairy legs before them and glistening pair of fangs, moving up and down in anticipation. Four of its visible eyes were seated atop of the hairy head – Two dominant ones reflecting both men. It was crawling towards them carefully – ready to strike any moment. It would have been harmless if they were still big, but alas, the creature was a bit bigger than them.

Muraki took a cautious step back, and felt Tsuzuki behind him, mimicking the motion. It resembled an awkward waltz.

-"Gosh, we're busted, we're so busted!" Tsuzuki muttered clutching Murakis shoulder.

-"Tsuzuki san, I would advise you to use your magic." Murakis otherwise calm voice was laced with tension.

-"I can't use it on creatures from this world and non spiritual entities of this realm." Tsuzuki squeaked.

-"It's no time for joking, Tsuzuki san." Muraki stated annoyed

-"I'm serious dammit!"

-"Then we are in trouble." The creature didn't fail to follow – It was steadily covering the distance between them. "Tsuzuki san, when I say run, we run, in one direction,"

-"Ok, whatever you say."

-"Ready . . ." Muraki took a piece of rock and aimed at the critter. "Set . .." He said as steadily and pulled his hand back for a throw. "Go!" He exclaimed right after hitting the thing on its head.

They spun on their heels and . . . experienced a severe tug on their joint arms.

-"I said one direction!" Muraki growled.

-"Well, how should I know which this "one direction" is?" Tsuzuki whined, and was suddenly yanked to the side, nearly avoiding a strike from their eight legged friend.

-"This way." Muraki called and they broke in a run, matching each others pace.

-"W-where .. huh. .. . are we. . huh . . .going?" Tsuzuki panted, hearing the scribble of eight feet behind them.

-"No . . idea." Came an exasperated answer. They ran, rows of doors passed their sight as they approached the other end of the hall steadily – as fast as their miniature bodies could take them. Tsuzukis was becoming a bit breathless.

-"Uh . . too much . . I can't .go on." Tsuzuki puffed and panted, falling behind Muraki steadily.

-"I see a door. . . . Tsuzuki, . . .get . . together." Muraki stated and gave Tsuzuki a tug. He on the other side strained and in the end – came stumbling towards the door.

-"The door is about our size. It's locked." Muraki noted, probing the simple portal, while Tsuzuki was leaning down and panting.

-"Great . . . /pant, pant/" He bent down and supported his forearms on his tights like a marathoner.

-"Do you still have the key?" Muraki stated after a closer inspection of the lock.

-"What key?"

-"From the table!"

-"Uh, just a sec." Tsuzuki dug in his pocket and produced a small shiny key. Muraki grabbed it and tried opening the door. The key did go inside, but the lock wouldn't budge.

-"Dammit!" Muraki swore and punched the door. Meanwhile Tsuzuki had regained his composure. He took the key out of its lock, still certain that it would fit somewhere someday.

-"Obviously it's not our way out." He stated and pulled Muraki in other direction. Instead he was yanked back.. "What the?"

-"Look." Muraki pointed at thin, almost transparent threads, aligning the floor, glistened in the eerie lit room. "The spider web." Muraki stated. "If we were to touch these strings, we would become its meal." Tsuzuki gulped

-"When did it manage doing that?" Tsuzuki whined.

-"It doesn't matter. What matters is …" Muraki trailed off glancing upwards

-"But where is the spider itself?" Tsuzuki looked around them frantically. Something poked him on the shoulder. He stiffened in anticipation of what it could be and jumped up in shock, to find out it was only Muraki. Only Muraki? Since when had he started thinking this way? "Good God you nearly scared my lunch out of me, why did you do that?!" Shinigami was fuming, the doctor only pointed up.

-"Is it what I think it is?" The brunette asked without looking. The doctor nodded slowly and took a step back towards the web. "Wait, we're trapped like this." Tsuzuki pulled the man back.

-"Tsuzuki san, use your charms." Tsuzuki was about to object. "Do you see another possibility?"

-"Well. . ." He tapped his chin thoughtfully, while he could see a vein pulsing in Murakis temple. Was he really irritated, was he? Brunette thought gleefully.

-"Tsuzuki san, we are running out of time." Muraki stated stoically and lit a cigarette. Funnily enough all the things they had with them – excluding the key, had merged alongside with them. "Well?"

-"I can carry you."

-"That's preposterous. I can walk fine by myself." The man dismissed him a bit haughtily.

-"But I can fly." Muraki turned to look at Tsuzuki, his look speculating whether or not to trust the purple-eyed beauty.

-"And why exactly didn't you use that option earlier?"

-"It skipped my mind." Tsuzuki laughed airily, scratching the back of his head in a silly manner.

In the meantime the spider got closer to its victims, slowly crawling down the wall, leaving a trace of spider web in its wake. Towards the locked door, the scribble of its clawed legs came, making no distraction for the both arguing persons.

* * *

Phew this was like THE longest one chapter Ive ever made - it was some 8.5 pages in Word format. (Oo) my poor, poor eyes. Well hanyways, until we meet again 


	2. No escape

Wooh, Wooh, update time!!!! Ok ,to say honestly, I was so happy that I had FINALLY FINISHED this chapter that I just couldnt keep it all to myself and decided to post it instead :P (it never seemed to be quite right, and now its a bit more right than it was before:D) 

Ok updates currently:

1) The damn V-day is coming and Im intending to spend it appropriately

2) I have to patricipate in V-day party organization and I have yet no ideas in mind!

3) I have a oneshot fot the V-day which I still have to finish and because of which I will not probably be capable of thinking up anything for the V-day party.

4) - I need help - any ideas about V-day - please ! I mean really I gotta entertain like 200 peeps and I cant come up with an appropriate character! Soh my question to You is - What would you do if you were a vice squad trying to capture a seductress and a horny caveman and persuae them to stop making the bloody kids!

Thankyou for Your kind cooperation,

Yours truly,

Morality

* * *

-"You were saying, Mr Tsuzuki?" Murakis voice was strained. Obviously he didn't like where it was going either."

-"I'm trying I'm trying…" Tsuzuki stated through gritted teeth, holding on Muraki tight, furrowing his brow in contemplation. He tried and concentrated to no avail. Their feet didn't even leave the ground. "I can't."

-"What? What do you mean you can't?" Muraki snapped looking over his shoulder annoyed.

-"I can't, you're too heavy." Tsuzuki squeaked looking at the doctor apologetically with his big puppy eyes. If the situation was different, the brunette might have ended up in doctors clutches. However now they were trapped.

Tsuzuki took a step back and Muraki couldn't help but notice that the guardian was conveniently using him as a shield, yet again.

-"Tsuzuki san, may I ask why exactly you are hiding behind me?" Muraki asked tentatively.

-"Whadya mean? Well, you're. . bigger than me, maybe it'll eat you first, oh, and you're scary too." Murakis expression was incredible.

-"What did you say?" He looked at Tsuzuki like some new, extremely disturbing monad.

-"I said you were big and scary." Tsuzuki stated matter-of-factly.

-"I might be dangerous, but by no means am I scary." Muraki axed.

-"Oh yes you are, have you seen yourself in the mirror?" Tsuzuki couldn't help but tease against his better judgement. Murakis eyes narrowed into two, hatred-filled slits and Tsuzuki was pondering what was scarier, the doctor or the spider and why couldn't he have held his big mouth shut.

-"Muraki, stop it will you?! We have other problems, like big, hairy and hungry!" Tsuzuki whimpered and inched back.

-"I am NOT scary." Muraki insisted, backing the shinigami up, fairly ignoring the eight –legged critter.

-"This is childish, Muraki!" Tsuzuki tried reasoning and backing away until a heel of his shoe struck the edge of the stone floor tile. The guardian gasped abruptly, startled by the abrupt contact. Both men felt the flooring tilt steadily, as the opposite end of the tile slowly begun to rise, obscuring the spider from the view. The rotation gained speed and the base beneath their feet slipped away, until it upended and spun like a swing door, taking both men with it.

-"Ya!" Tsuzuki hit his head on the edge of the immobile part of the flooring and passed out. Muraki reacted soon enough, not being sure of the reasons of the guardians' sudden loss of consciousness. He caught him being ready for the impact of whatever that laid beneath the tile only to realize that he wasn't falling at all. Somehow, the gravity of the swinging tile kept him glued to the surface. Like if the world had somersaulted. He looked at the drastically changed environment – instead of a cave, they were in a green forest and bright rays of sun were shining through the green trunks. Unnoticed by the doctor, the green sprouts of grass started budding from the formerly smooth patch of stone tile to match the environment they were in.

-"Tsuzuki san?" Muraki asked tentatively, trying to clear the spinning dizziness from his head. He shook the guardian's limp form, becoming quite distressed. No answer. Tsuzuki might as well have been one of his dolls. That didn't sit well with the doctor, with Tsuzuki he was always used to having a response, so he gently laid the non-responding body on the ground and felt Tsuzukis head, for any injury. He winced when he felt the wetness on brunettes' nape.

The man pulled the hand back to see blood. Muraki was transfixed by the sight of immortal blood staining his palm, the same as all those months ago, before he had inherited the same thing which put him where he was now. Salvia gathered in his mouth and he brought the hand to his face and smelt the substance, it was inviting him to take a taste, an invitation he was unlikely to decline. Fuelled by the blessing taste of his Tsuzuki, he started examining the amount of harm done. Muraki positioned Tsuzukis head on the side so the back of his scull could regenerate without hindrance, then he pulled one eyelid open gently, relishing in the feel of silky lashes tickling his skin. He checked the other eye tying to deduct whether or not his lovely was regaining consciousness. Instead he ended up gazing into a dilated purple iris, void of any emotion or life.

Muraki couldn't help but be pulled into the deep purple gates of the lonesome soul which held such pain and anger at times it took his breath away. The white man leant in slowly; regarding the guardians face in close-up – flawless, supple skin, finely sculpted features – he kissed the rigid lips, sliding his tongue between the warm, soft folds. Muraki was taking the opportunity which he knew Tsuzuki would clearly deny him as long as he had a chance. He pulled the brunettes mouth wider open and slithered his tongue inside the wet cavern, tasting what shouldn't have existed. The fact that there was nothing Tsuzuki could do to stop him made it all the sweeter.

Suddenly a hand shot out of nowhere and locked itself on his throat, giving his windpipe a nice squeeze. Murakis eyes narrowed to slits, he pulled back snarling. The choking hand fell to the side limply. The doctor chuckled to himself, even in his unconscious state, guardians body reacted on instinct, and its first reaction to him was offence. Funnily enough the brunette usually restrained himself when he was awake. This gave the doctor a completely new angle of perception, he looked in awe when he saw the guardians body give a little twitch, the previously inert iris came to focus rapidly and the eye blinked. Tsuzukis body jerked and the guardian pulled away.

-"Your abilities don't cease to amaze me." The doctor stated, rubbing his neck, observing the disoriented guardian regain his senses.

-"What happened?" Tsuzuki rolled his eyes behind the lids. "My head chimes." He rubbed his nape

-"We. . . there was a trap door in the floor." Muraki tried explaining, while the guardian was making sure all of his body functions were intact. Cerebral activity restored slower even in his body. Getting in a safe distance from the doctor and taking a look around, he finally stated. "It's ridiculous."

-"It was a hidden door." Muraki repeated noticing that the odd coincidence had solved their arachnid problem.

-"Phew, thank goodness we lost that spider. We lost it, didn't we?" The man nodded in reply and Tsuzuki emitted a relieved sigh. "But where are we? Looks like a bamboo grove, but somehow greener, and leafier." Muraki stood up and pulled Tsuzuki with him.

-"I daresay it almost looks like grass." Muraki stated and brushed his trousers off, scoffing at the green blotches on the fabric that were such a mess to get out if he ever had a chance.

-"I feel like a dwarf. If only we could ask somebody where we are." Tsuzuki stated wistfully. "Muraki, do you feel it?" The guardian stiffened suddenly, watching all around, being alert.

-"Feel what?" Muraki asked, pulling back from examining moss in the particular scale they were in. The guardian kept looking around anxiously and Muraki started to feel unnerved, soon he felt it too, the fine tremor shaking the ground beneath them and getting stronger, like if it was an earthquake or giant footsteps. A shadow passed the patch of the lawn they had been in like a bird of prey, it was getting bigger and bigger, until Tsuzuki was tugging doctors arm to pull him away.

-"Muraki, it's no time to get off by blockbuster sights!" He grumbled, and sure enough, the shadow took shape and form, and in the end they realised it was a giant shoe sole, approaching them in what seemed to be slow motion of a meteorite that had once wiped the dinosaurs off the face of Earth.

-"A shoe?" Muraki looked appreciatively, quirking his brow. "Speaking of big and scary, Mr Tsuzuki."

-"C'mon!" Tsuzuki was the one pulling him away from the sight. "Sheesh, you can act so childish, how you'd survived all this time is beyond me, come on, we're gonna get squished there!» Tsuzuki ranted as he pulled the transfixed doctor away from the sight. They were walking for some time, occasionally feeling slighter or stronger tremors until they reached a little clearing where a mushroom stood, upon which . . .

-"Oriya?" Muraki was the one to speak, when he turned his attention to the samurai, perched upon a mushroom, sitting in a Buddha pose, smoking his pipe. The man didn't spare them a glimpse and continued watching the distance, unperturbed by occasionally quaking ground. "Oriya, what are you doing here?"

-"You know each other?" Tsuzuki exclaimed looking at Muraki appreciatively.

-"Who are you?" Suddenly sounded from the top of the mushroom. Both men turned at the man sitting on top of fungi regally like on the throne.

Muraki blinked. "Now what has you so upset that you fail to acknowledge me?" He snapped.

Pause.

The said Oriya took the pipe into his mouth again and continued sucking on it, puffing rings of smoke into the air. "Who are you?" The man repeated, blowing a cloud of smoke into the air, not particularly interested in examining the two newcomers.

Muraki actually closed his eyes and contemplated of a moment, brushing his hair back. He cleared his throat.

-"My name is Tsuzuki Asato." Tsuzuki stated politely, interrupting whatever Muraki was about to say. "Pleased to meet you Mr Oriya." He waved a hand.

-"Say a tongue twister." Oriya said in the same haughty tone.

-"Huh?" Tsuzuki looked at the man as if seeing him for the first time. "Muraki? I never thought I'd say that, but your friend is even weirder than you are." The man in white (with several grass stains) rubbed the bridge of his nose.

-"What are you doing here Oriya?" Muraki sighed.

-"Some odd flower gave me directions and I ended up sitting here, glued to this mushroom, unless I made someone say a tongue twister." Muraki broke in series of loud cackles.

-"Really Oriya, taking directions from a piece of vegetation." Oriya rolled his eyes and sighed.

-"Are you going to say a tongue twister or not?" The man snapped impatiently. "After all the times I've cleaned after you, I suppose I could count on some kind of help."

-"Hah, after you treated me in such impolite manner?" Muraki asked in a mock insulted tone. Apparently the man was obsessed by his person.

-"Um, why did you ask the flower?" Tsuzuki asked politely again, trying to steer the conversation into more informative grounds.

-"Because it spoke to me." Oriya replied briskly. "As for, acknowledging your highness, Muraki, I couldn't see quite well, over the edge of this damn mushroom."

-"Um, excuse me, but could we try getting out of here, instead of dealing with personal issues, we're about to be stepped on after all." Tsuzuki appealed to common sense once again, which he was finding more and more uncommon for himself, but, since he was stuck with a psycho and his, khem, friend, in a very odd place, he decided that there were some drastic changes happening to his personality. All he hoped for was that he would find some of his friends along the way. No matter how selfish that sounded.

In the meanwhile, Muraki and Oriya had managed getting deeper into an argument seemingly concerning very tender, very personal issues, on which Tsuzuki didn't want to dwell.

-"Khem . . . I mean AHEM!" Tsuzuki insisted.

-"Need a cough drop?" Muraki offered politely.

-"No thanks." Tsuzuki gulped a couple of times to get the soreness out of his throat. "Mr Oriya, so why don't we say that tongue thingy and get you off?"

-"A tongue twister, Mr Tsuzuki. You know an expression that is difficult to articulate clearly." Muraki smiled at him sunnily.

-"Yeah, right, what he said. So how does this go again?"

-"Let's see." Muraki made an expression which indicated that he was going through his mind files in search of something very old and dusty. "Oh, yes! Rubber baby buggy bumper." Nothing happened and Oriya glanced at Tsuzuki meaningfully who instead looked at the doctor with a mild expression of amusement. Actually he was fighting hard to restrain giggles, which made him appear being caught in a fit of malaria fever.

-"Now you." Oriya ordered Tsuzuki.

-"What? Wasn't giving my initiative not enough?" Tsuzuki jumped.

-"Apparently, Mr Tsuzuki. It was not." Muraki stated being so glad he could observe his target of adoration do something reasonably silly.

-"Oh well, ok, lessee. Three switch witches watch Swatch watches which switch witch watches which Swatch watch." The brunette finished with a little blush.

-"Aww, how precious, you even didn't stutter." Muraki cooed adoringly and pinched Tsuzukis cheek. Who in turn yelped and swatted the man off.

-"One side will make you bigger, the other one – smaller." Oriya declared, when he jumped off of the mushroom.

-"What?" Tsuzuki blinked.

-"The mushroom." Oriya replied and pointed at the fungi for emphasis. Muraki looked at his friend with a generous amount of curiosity.

-"But how can you tell the sides of a mushroom, its round!" Tsuzuki objected.

-"Did the talking flower tell you that too?" The doctor couldn't help but jibe. Oriya shrugged.

-"I don't particularly care whether or not you believe me; anyway, it was about it to get me out of here."

-"What?" Tsuzuki whipped about to ask the swordsman more, but he was gone already. "He's gone! How did he know how to get out?" he exclaimed and looked at Muraki for answers. The doctor only shrugged. "This is so not fair." The brunette huffed.

-"Why don't you try it first?" Tsuzuki suggested, looking at the mushroom with a good share of distrust.

-"Me? You're the one with supernatural restorative abilities here." Muraki objected, eyeing the fungi with the same doubts.

-"Yeah, but you're the one who can ingest tons of poisons and not be affected by it. I still can get pretty bad gastric dysfunction, you know." Tsuzuki explained.

-"Hmm yes, the effect might wary from mild hallucinations to lethal outcome." Muraki rubbed his chin.

-"Well, I'm not eating it." Tsuzuki declared.

-"Tch, you weren't nearly as abstemious before, which, in fact, put us into this inconvenient position, what changed your mind now?"

-"Cookies are different." Tsuzuki protested. "They're not supposed to be poisonous." He flailed his hands, "and, I'm not particularly fond of consuming raw fungi. And this one looks like a toadstool"

-"As much as I know, we can trust Oriya." Muraki pondered. "Still, I cannot consume it." Tsuzuki gave him a speculating look.

-"Oh yeah, and why would that be?" Tsuzuki looked unconvinced.

-"Well, you see .. "The man trailed off trying to find the right words to describe what was to come next. "I have a certain . . . problem regarding mushrooms."

-"Yeeees." Brunette pushed further seeing the doctors unease with the particular topic.

-"I'm allergic." Muraki quirked his nose.

-"No way, you, allergic to mushrooms?" The guardians face lit up like he'd won in a lottery.

-"Yes, I am. Therefore I cannot consume it, but since whatever you eat affects us both, It shouldn't be much of a trouble."

-"Hey, that's not entirely proven." Tsuzuki objected. Muraki grimaced being fairly annoyed.

-"Well, let it be my loss then." The doctor said curtly.

-"Well . . . ok." Tsuzuki agreed after a moment of hesitation. "Wait, what if the side makes us smaller and we can't reach the other side to get bigger? We have to take a piece of another side too just in case." Tsuzuki went to the other side and tore a respectful chunk off the pileus. In the meanwhile, Muraki took another chunk off in the other end. "Ok, so which one goes first?" The guardian pondered.

-"Let's start with the one in your hand." The doctor suggested. The guardian took a little nip and chewed on it carefully as if expecting it to go off in his mouth. "Nothing happened."

-"Wait, let it take effect." Muraki curiously regarded the brunette for a moment or two.

-"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Tsuzuki squeaked, Because of the acceleration. He felt like a cosmonaut in the space shuttle that was breaking away from Earths gravity field. Tears gathered in corners of his eyes and leaked down his cheeks. He felt like he was being stretched on a medieval torture wheel. "Ouchie, it hurt." The guardian rubbed his aching ribs as he glanced at the equally disoriented doctor, who seemed even paler than usual.

Muraki and Tsuzuki had emerged in the middle of a bumpy field with flamingos, hedgehogs and odd people running around. They seemed to pay little to the none attention to both men suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Tsuzuki poked Murakis shoulder carefully.

-" Have we emerged in mental asylum?" He asked in a whisper, trying not to move.

-"Maybe." Muraki whispered back, studying the people carefully.

-"How do you think, will they ignore us if we, um, keep still." Tsuzuki suggested in the same quiet tone.

-"I don't know." The doctor replied looking for routes of escape.

-"The T-Rex did in a movie . . ." Tsuzuki reasoned. Obviously it didn't ring bells to Muraki.

-"Tsuzuki san, you do know that a movie is an interpretation of one persons imagination, nothing else." Tsuzuki nodded quietly.

-"I know, but they kinda look like T-Rexes." Tsuzuki continued, while looking at the busy people.

-"Whatever made you draw the comparison, Tsuzuki san? Per chance you haven't noticed, those aren't scaly lizards. Have you lost your brain along the way?" Dinosaurs had obviously been Murakis weak point.

-"But they are as scary! And I bumped my head real bad! I'm sorry, don't yell at me like that, I just, I just thought that, well, this is a weird place and all." Tsuzuki looked at Muraki with his bottom lip trembling. "You're mean." The guardian finally settled stomping his foot down. Murakis heated gaze roamed the fragile on brink–of–tears guardian from head to foot.

-"Tsuzuki san, no matter how much I want to restrain myself regarding my advances towards you this second, you're not making it any easier for me, especially when you're looking at me this way." The man cupped Tsuzukis chin and lifted his head up, his warm breath was gushing over the pale lips and falling to a rest on Tsuzukis skin.

-"You act like you're frustrated, you know that?" The guardian interjected wit ha proper comment to break the way too intimae atmosphere which was about to bloom around them.

-"Now what gave you the idea I wonder." Muraki snapped, being irritated by the spoilt moment.

-"Stop being so prickly. It was just an observation. Oh look a hedgehog. Aww, what are you doing here widdwe buddy? Did that scary old croon scare you?" Murakis eye twitched at the remark, but he decided to let it pass. His attention was taken by a certain lady approaching him steadily. Her gaze was fixed on the animal which Tsuzuki was so lovingly cuddling in his arms.

-"Tsuzuki san, put down the hedgehog." Muraki whispered insistently. He saw the wicked glint in the womans eyes.

-"What , why? It looks so cute, and, aww look at its little paws." Tsuzuki took his time tickling the soft belly or the critter.

-"Tsuzuki san, put down the hedgehog, NOW!" Muraki stated in a quiet demanding voice.

«But. . .» The man turned to the obstinate brunette only to be startled by a high-pitched squeal.

-"Off with their heads!" Sounded a shrill voice behind them, making Tsuzuki drop the hedgehog.

-"Excuse me ..." Muraki took his time to check the woman's attire in order to address her properly. "...Madam, I'm more than certain that there is no need to behead us." If he had been expecting any reasonable retreat, he was completely misguided. The woman puffed her chest and knitted the thin eyebrows in the middle of her forehead.

-"You dare to question my authority?! Off with their heads!" She managed screaming in doctors face, while being about a foot shorter than he was.

-"Why do you want to behead us? I mean, what has made you upset?" Tsuzuki tried his hand in diplomacy.

-"Not you, peasant, but Your Highness." The other man they recognized as a king ( granted he had a crown) interjected while the woman was going through huffing/blanching/boiling fit. –"You've touched the royal hedgehog." The man explained reasonably.

-"Peasant?" Muraki stated as if he had just been presented with a bowl full of puppy droppings.

-"Royal hedgehog? But how does it differ from any other hedgehog inhere or any other common hedgehog you might find in a forest? I mean, it looks plain like a normal hedgehog, how are we to tell that it's royal?" Tsuzuki continued appealing to common sense.

-"You see, this is a royal croquet competition, and all hedgehogs in royal competition, in fact, are royal." The king finished with a shrug.

-"But why isn't everybody else being beheaded because of touching them?"

-"They were invited, however you, my friend, are a gate crusher, therefore, off goes your head." The man accented the meaning by pulling a straight horizontal line with his index finger, under his chin. "Like that."

-"Well, then why am I being beheaded, I haven't touched it nor do I want to." Muraki stated, obviously mot looking forward decapitation.

-"You, my friend, have questioned the authority of her Royal Highness, Queen of Hearts, so off goes your head too. Besides, lads here could use a show, we haven't beheaded anyone since yesterday, and the tea time is so boring without a show." He nudged Tsuzuki in a friendly manner as if he would also be enjoying the show, not being part of it. "Off to the cell with both of them!" He told the guards.

-"Wait, wait, I request a fair trial, I want a lawyer!" Tsuzuki called, but the king just waved him away with his hand. The guards came from both sides to take them away. To Tsuzukis utter shock, Muraki didn't resist or object; he kept silent. Curiously enough, instead of being sent to dungeons, they were sent to a tower. The steep steps lead to the last landing where a lonely, little cell was. They both were squeezed inside, and the door was locked.

-"Damned stupid hedgehog croquet thing, if I get outta here alive, I'm sicking animal rights defenders at them, and using everything they say against them in court." Tsuzuki huffed pacing the little cell, while Muraki laid on his back on the only bunk, observing Tsuzukis movements, as his right hand dangled in the chain of the cuff holding them together.

-"Tsuzuki san, your movements are becoming a bother, why don't you sit down?" The man suggested, patting the part of the bunk beside him and brushing some hay off.

-"So you can take advantage of me, no way!" The brunette shot back, kicking a particularly large clump of hay laying on the ground. The place was littered with dry grass.

-"We are spending the last hours of our life or unlife together; I find it quite romantic myself. Do you really want to pass the time pacing like this?"

-"I'm not looking forward to it, you know. And No I don't find it romantic in the least." Tsuzuki objected, but he did stop pacing.

-"Now, now, Tsuzuki san, you're too adorable when you're frustrated. Maybe that's the reason I so love seeing you in this state?"

-"Aren't you even wanting to escape?" The guardian asked in disbelief. He was hoping that the doctor had come up with a decent plan already, he was counting on it. "I mean, well, you have always eluded death, so what makes you stop now?"

-"Hmm, maybe because you're with me this time." Muraki mused with a wistful expression on his face. "Dying together by means of decapitation. The only thing that concerns me is whether you'll really die. It would be very silly to go, leaving you behind."

-"The hell, sop that, Muraki!! Have you lost your mind?! I don't feel like dying again any time soon, dammit!" Tsuzuki gave the man a little shake.

-"But Tsuzuki san, you were the one who brought up the topic in Kyoto." The man ogled the frustrated man dreamily, plucking a couple of straws out of the messy, brown locks.

-"Shut up! And don't you dare mentioning that, you hear me?!" The guardian jabbed the man in the chest.

-"Does it still make you wake up in cold sweat at night?" Muraki cooed in a sweet tone. "I'm touched, Asato. I hope I can call you like that." He leant towards Tsuzuki, cupping his cheek. "Now, Tsuzuki san, do you really want to die a virgin?" He pulled the brunette closer. "It would be such a waste, and this lovely body of yours, is begging to be taken." With that he locked his arms around the brunette and wasted no time in getting acquainted with the squirming body in his grasp.

-"Get off of me!" Tsuzuki shrieked, pushing the man back. "Start thinking with the head that's on your shoulders for once, I am not intending to die here!" He poked his head for emphasis in case the doctor got misguided.

Muraki shrugged. –"Forgive me, I was just trying to use the situation, however, why don't you enlighten me of your plans."

Tsuzukis jaw dropped.-"Hey, you were the one who wanted to die, right, so be my guest!" He added venomously, goodness how he hated that arrogant, smug bastard!

-"Tsuzuki san, but I wanted to die with you. Death is such a lonely thing, you should know better." He caught the guardian in his arms again. "And how do you suppose to escape alone?"

-"Get your hands offa me NOW or I'll make sure you won't move again!" The guardian hissed like a snake, digging his nails into the fabric of doctors suit.

-"Oh, my, how cruel. Is the sweet-natured guardian going to take his frustration out on a defenceless human? Again?" At that point, Muraki released the rampant brunette.

-"You're anything but defenceless." Tsuzuki groaned, ordering his crumpled suit. Muraki fished out a cigarette and lit it. After a moment of smoke filled silence, Tsuzuki chose to speak. "Ahem, why don't you smoke somewhere else?"

-"I must say this is possibility is currently unavailable to me, is it bothering you this much?" The man asked impassively, clearly, he wasn't concerned about the brunettes' opinion whatsoever.

-"Yes, I don't like cigarette smoke."

-"Really? But being undead – lung cancer isn't a threat to you, is it?" Tsuzuki rolled his eyes.

-"I do not particularly care whether or not it's harmful to me, I hate the smell, so get rid of it!" Muraki seemed to listen only halfheartedly; still, he pulled a lungful of the cancerous fume and released it in Tsuzukis general direction, stubbing the ember out.

-"You're the most annoying creature I've ever met." The brunette huffed.

-"I'm offended by you using such a title for me, Tsuzuki san. But I am flattered that you've decided to place me as number one at least in one of your personal scales." Tsuzuki shook his head.

-"Don't worry; you're pretty at top in a couple of others too."

-"Really?" The man seemed to be mildly interested in the conversation. "And what would those be?"

-"Hmm, the number one snob title is all yours for the taking, as well as the pain in the behind position."

-"I'd love proving the second title over and again with you to evaluate, Mr Tsuzuki." The man gave an appropriate look to make the brunette certain of what he was implying.

-"You're despicable." Tsuzuki sneered, but chose not to start a quarrel over such a meaningless topic. The doctor chose to continue it instead.

-"But you like it, don't you?" Tsuzuki rolled his eyes and gave a groan. He leant down and put he chain holding them together onto the ground, then he kneeled before it and proceeded beating it with the rock in order to brake it apart. After a moment of mild amusement, Muraki got curious and observed the busy brunette using cavemen tools.

-"Tsuzuki san, you know that you're wasting time?"

«I-don't-care. If I'm to die then I am NOT going to do it being stuck to you. I hate you so much, you haughty, arrogant, bastard" Tsuzuki accented his words by hitting the rock on the chains. They didn't budge, nor did they bend or show any signs of damage. "I'm doing anything to get the respectful 9 yards back between us." In response he just heard laughter.

-"Tsuzuki san, you're so cute when you're angry like that. I'm sure you're aware that this cell isn't that big." The doctor seemed humoured. "But would you just listen me out? That little trinket holding us together actually is there to ensure that we both return to our own, should I say reality, together, the way we left it. Otherwise, there might be disturbances both in this and our own realm."

-"What do you mean?" The doctor intertwined his fingers uttering a heavy sigh.

-"I mean, Tsuzuki san, we came together, we'll leave together, even if one of us dies, the other is to bring the body back in order to maintain balance in both worlds." The man finished with an air of achieved doctors degree.

-"What a load of crap." Tsuzuki commented. "This is the least balanced place I've ever seen." Actually come to think of it, his desk was even less balanced – it had breadcrumb minions which just loved digging into his elbows as he wrote; there was a dust bunny horde and the whole place was under a constant siege of paper balls. His wardrobe was less balanced too, his bathroom was full of misbalance, and then there was Wataris lab.

-"Well, maybe that's why it's in order." Muraki added to the brunettes' lonesome ponderings.

-"Right, and you have two eyes, don't make me laugh Muraki." Tsuzuki replied disdainfully.

-"Even I'm not that self-assured to tamper with such things." The man added with reverence. " The amount of destruction caused would stand well beyond something even you could do, Mr. Tsuzuki." The doctor didn't fail to explain.

-"Whatever you say." To Murakis utter distaste, the shinigami dismissed him quite easily. "We gotta get out of here." Tsuzuki stood up from his kneeling position and started to pace again.

-"Any bright ideas?" The doctors gaze didn't leave the guardians shifting profile, not for a second, in case he would after all have to die, this would be the little something he'll be thinking about. Tsuzuki abruptly came to a halt as if he was struck by a lightning. For a moment there Muraki let himself believe that the brunette had truly come up with something brilliant. He raised his finger skywards pretty much Eureka style and ejaculated.

-"The key!" Murakis expectations poppet like a hot air balloon.

-"No, no, not that again, Tsuzuki san." The doctor groaned.

-"We don't know unless we try." he went to the cell door and tried using the key. "Well, it's not from here." He put a finger to his chin to think.

-"Tsuzuki san, you are wasting time with that key, you know that?" Muraki put his last attempt to persuade the brunette do give up on the damn trinket that was irritating him so.

-"No, I'm not, my intuition has never failed me before."

-"So what is it telling you now?"

-"You're one arrogant cock." Murakis eyebrows seemed to permanently dislocate their original attachment above his eyes and glue themselves to his hairline.

-"Now what was that for?"

-"I felt like saying that." Tsuzuki shrugged. " Well, at least it wasn't wrong." Brunette flashed a grin and put the key back in its rightful place – in his pocket. Muraki wanted to object that this little revelation was a fruit of the guardians somewhat rational side rather than intuition, but he dismissed the topic.

-"If _My_ intuition is correct, then I'll need some hay."

* * *

In humble gratitude I bow to thou who had the courage to read until the end! and Im waiting for your suggestions . .. . ASAP . . .. or my scalp will be adorning the halls of the university . . ..

* * *


	3. Hate and Necessity

Hey there, my dearest readers, thank you for keeping up with my rather sluggish preformance lately, but since you all have been totally patient with me and have gently yet firmly encouraged me to post (signifficant look at Olly), I decided to make a little Christmas present for ya! Enjoy and don`t abuse,

Yours truly,

Turbo

* * *

-"Are you certain it's gonna work?" Tsuzuki regarded the small fire Muraki had made. The flames eagerly grew being fed on hey.

-" No." Tsuzuki blinked.

-"Wait, wait, you mean you're going to make a bonfire outta this room only because it's your whim?"

-"Honestly, what on Earth gave you the idea." He covered his nose by a handkerchief. Tsuzuki coughed, he obviously didn't have such a luxurious item.

-"Damnit, what are you doing then?" His throat was raw; tears welled in his eyes as the pungent smoke filled the room. "Getting us killed before they get a chance?"

-"Mr. Tsuzuki I will require you turning invisible, you can do that can't you?" The brunette nodded through the smoke. "When the guards come, we'll have to fight our way through with you staying invisible."

One of Tsuzukis` eyebrows twitched before shooting high up his forehead. "Correct me if I'm wrong, you actually said 'fight'?

Muraki turned to look at him still managing to convey 'duh' without words.

-"Tell me do you have any other offensive skills but curses and torturing helpless little girls? I mean, summoning would require a pentagram, I don't see one here, and curses are pretty much useless since you don't have that much time to put them on any guards whatsoever." The brunette crossed arms on his chest, to his great disappointment Murakis` grin only widened. _Man he has no shame_ Tsuzuki growled to himself.

-"Whoever told you that I'm the one who'll do all the fighting?" Murakis` grin became wolfish as he glanced at the other man.

Tsuzuki wanted to object; asking how Muraki could be so certain the guards would appear whatsoever. However soon enough the door swung open revealing a hallway full of oddly dressed men with spears in their hands. The shinigami turned invisible in a nick of time before the guards located them. Muraki took a clump of hey, letting the flames lick at it until it looked positively like a fireball before he tossed it into the doorway where the guards stood. The men scattered to the sides, and Muraki hurried straight through the gap he had created moments ago, with invisible Tsuzuki tailing behind him; however they didn't get far before they were surrounded by the guards from all sides. Muraki glared but he wasn't certain if Tsuzuki was devious enough to do anything. Soon enough he felt a gust of warm breath against his ear. He felt warm fingers encase his hand and squeeze it gently.

-"What now, Muraki?"

-"Improvise; it's up to you now." The doctor stated. The brunette scowled, he quietly reached out for the closest guards and smacked the two who stood together across the face roughly. The men blinked.

-"Why did you hit me?" The guard held his aching cheek. The other one, equally perturbed looked at his companion accusingly, saying that he wasn't guilty and that he was a victim after all. Steadily, as the conflict grew, the guards became more interested in the quarreling of their comrades rather than keeping the eye on the hostages.

Suddenly Muraki felt an arm hooking around his waist and some invisible force yanked him towards the stairwell. He had no time to blink when he was plummeting down, passing the multitude of stairs. A short moment before contact with the ground, he felt the arm around his middle again, yanking him backwards, the speed lessened, until he collapsed onto something not entirely cushiony, but definitely softer than the ground. He blinked, and beneath him, Tsuzukis` form shimmered into vision.

-"Tsuzuki san?" Muraki looked at the guardian wide-eyed. The brunette coughed wincing, air knocked out of him. Above them, they could hear the commotion of the guards fighting and they heard the rushed footsteps descending the stairs. Tsuzuki winced, a thin trail of blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth.

-"Get off of me!" He growled hoarsely. Muraki snapped out of his dazed state and stood up, pulling the brunette up with him, but obviously the guardian was too weak to walk, the impact with the ground with Murakis` added weight on top of him must have severed his spine. The doctor knelt quickly lifting the brunette in his arms, the groan of pain of the other setting a chill down his spine.

Tsuzuki stared at Murakis exultant expression. That one groan must have made him feel so much…

- "Bloody hell, Muraki!!! Get going you idiot!" The doctor blinked, he spun around hastily, searching for a place to hide. The guards were coming closer, so he ran out of the building, stopping by a vast fountain.

-"Tsuzuki san, I'll need you holding your breath." Muraki took a running start and jumped into the fountain, still holding the brunette close. The water rushed around their bodies. Muraki still held Tsuzuki fast as they were sinking deeper into the fountain, wait, were the fountains that deep? From Murakis` arms, Tsuzuki saw that the bubbles of air from their bodies were slowly coursing towards the surface like blobs of quicksilver. He glanced at Murakis` face that still held a couple of tiny bubbles stuck to his skin. The silver hair now looked like some odd grey seaweed, flowing in disarray around his head. Tsuzuki wanted to yell at him, but all that came out was merely bubbles of air that idly sailed away from the brunette, and he found himself mercilessly out of breath or any air. His ribcage expanded instinctively, trying to fill the suffocating void, but there was no air to inhale. Tsuzuki writhed to no avail; they were too deep for him to emerge for a gulp of air. Panic flashed in his eyes. That's right, Muraki wanted to drown him for stopping him in Kyoto that must have been his plan all along, to drag Tsuzuki into water and end his life! He glanced into the doctors face and to his utter astonishment he saw none of the manic glee of evil smirk of accomplishment on the mans` face. On the contrary, he looked concerned. Moments passed and Tsuzukis` situation worsened, he wanted to draw a breath, his muscles spasmed and he was coming close to drawing water into his lungs just to have them filled already.

What Muraki did next was unthinkable, he pressed his mouth to Tsuzukis` tightly, in the meantime squeezing his nose shut and shared the remaining amount of air he had. Tsuzuki breathed in greedily, wanting more and not thinking of consequences, his body greeted the flush of oxygen, meager as it was. However he registered next that Murakis` form was going limp, he didn't fight for breath or struggle. His eyes were shut and his face- expressionless and pale. Tsuzuki realized with striking clarity that if he didn't do anything, the doctor would die after all, which meant that he'd have to drag him along everywhere, and there was the sinking feeling of obligation towards him, he could have easily let Tsuzuki struggle for breath and could have saved his breath, but no, he had to go all the way and make Tsuzuki feel guilty for killing him again, the brunette wouldn't stand for it, consequences be damned. He gathered his strength and propelled his body upwards, kicking with his feet; he had to get to the surface as fast as he could. The shimmering rays of light penetrated the dark bulk of water, yet the very edge of it still evaded him, he fought for breath, the remains of air from Murakis breath irritating his lungs, he wanted desperately a new portion of oxygen. Several feet below surface he exhaled, experiencing a flux of relief, which was followed almost instantly by a burning craving for more. Desperately he fought his way to the surface.

Tsuzuki emerged coughing and sputtering. He took a large gulp of air and looked behind him. He hadn't been a fan of Baywatch, but he knew enough, to get Muraki to the surface. He held the man so that his face was above the water and tried making out where they were.

-"You bloody bastard!" He intended to roar; instead it came out in uneven gasps and turned the doctor face up. "You damned cretin," he muttered, pulling the man towards the land. The strand was covered with little pebbles, they screeped under his feet as he was pulling Murakis` body towards the dry land. He put the doctor onto the dry ground and hastily checked any signs of life.

None.

He cursed under his breath and tilted the mans` head back, opening his mouth.

-"I bet you did that on purpose too." Tsuzuki muttered and inhaled a lungful of air, and then he bent towards Murakis` opened mouth trying not to think too much about it, there was no time for staling. He smacked his mouth against the pale blondes` sealing their mouths and blowing with all his might, to his delight, Murakis` chest did rise, but only by Tsuzukis efforts, the doctor however stayed irritatingly still.

The brunette repeated the procedure several times, becoming dizzy himself from hyperventilating, and then he saw Muraki convulse as he struggled for breath. He helped the man to roll on his side as the doctor coughed and wheezed crouching on all fours to hold himself somewhat upright.

-"God. ." slipped a raspy gasp between fits of coughing. "You are…bad at this…aren't you?" Tsuzuki`s eyes were wide as saucers. Instead of thanking him for saving his life, the bloody bastard accused him of doing something wrong. He saw red, bus seeing the renowned doctor in such a position eased the edge off his anger. He looked more pitiful, than sneering or mad, so Tsuzuki waited patiently for the man to compose himself.

When he had finished, he looked at Tsuzuki for the first time. The shinigami sat before him, frowning, but the distance between them was bigger than he was used to, he looked at his wrist and saw the cuff handing off, the manacle in which Tsuzukis` hand used to be, was empty, there were shreds of torn skin hanging off of the brim, apparently Tsuzukis` hand had healed already.

-"Tsuzuki san? How did you manage this?" The brunette shrugged.

-"I didn't notice until it was too late, my attention was elsewhere, and reasonably so. What were you thinking down there? What were you attempting to do? Get us both killed?"

-"Why do you insist on me being suicidal? If I recall correctly, you were the one who had the brilliant idea of plummeting down the stairwell." The doctor remarked. "As well as you were the thoughtless one to release the air you had. What were You thinking?"

-"Me?! YOU are suicidal! You're a friggin` psychopath!" Tsuzuki yelled. "And what were you thinking under water?! Are you stupid or what?!"

-"Not really." Muraki sat up, being his composed self, whilst interlocking his fingers. "You see, Mr. Tsuzuki. You're more willing to protect other people rather than yourself. Thus, by becoming a victim in your regard, I made it possible for us both to be safe now."

Tsuzuki looked at him skeptically. "So what you're saying is that you were too weak to get to the surface so you made me do it."

Muraki frowned. "'Weak', Mr. Tsuzuki is not the right word to describe it. It's a wise distribution of resources; you're the god of death here, not me."

The god of death in question only frowned more. "And you were using my guilty conscience."

-"Guilty as charged, Mr. Tsuzuki, but it seems to be the only thing that works with you."

A vein throbbed in Tsuzukis` temple. "What did you say?!"

"And another thing." The man continued unperturbed, "I'm questioning your logic as now, that I have you so close to me, why on Earth would I want to die?" Muraki smiled at the brunette sweetly.

Well, I..." Tsuzuki stuttered. He was baffled and not in a good way either. He was so outraged, he was seconds away from snapping the mans` neck. In the end he lifted his hands up and let them drop.

-"Great, next time you choose to 'distribute resources wisely', I'll just leave you to die somewhere, that'll spare me a grey hair or two."

-"Is that so?" Muraki cooed, "Are your killer instincts coming to life again, were _You_ trying to get me killed?" Muraki warmed the issue taunting the brunette effectively. "Plummeting down that stairwell, it was pretty high you know, it would have been lethal for a human being such as me." There was nothing better than seeing his lovely uneasy like that.

That was the last drop. Tsuzuki stood up and took Muraki by the collar. "Shut up, you bloody son of a…" Tsuzuki stopped as one of Murakis hands was choking him in mid sentence.

-"I'm just a human, but do be so kind and stop this tantrum." Tsuzuki slanted his eyes into a death glare, but he had to let go, to save his breath. Both men took a step back.

-"I'm so glad you followed my advice." Muraki smiled at him sunnily.

-"Bah, yeah right, the poor, fair you." Tsuzuki pursed his lips. "Since you weren't going to come up with anything ingenious, I had to act. After all, you said it yourself that it was all up to me." He crossed his arms over his chest and turned his face away from Muraki in the direction of the water that languidly lapped against the pebbled coast with characteristically wet rustle as the small rivulets of liquid rushed between the gravel, back to whence they came.

Muraki chuckled at the childish display, "Sometimes you're just too cute, Mr. Tsuzuki." Seemingly uninterested in prolonging their discussion he turned to look around. His expression of mild curiosity. "I wonder where we are." He pondered out loudly. "I suppose you wouldn't know, Mr. Tsuzuki."

Tsuzuki was about to snap at Muraki, however the man had already stood up and walked past him.

Tsuzuki stopped for a second, thinking if he should follow. He was free now, he could go wherever he wanted and be free of the man once and for all. He looked around, watched the endless horizon, then looked at Murakis` retreating back, then at the copse of trees on one side, Murakis` annoyingly white back, stupid man, what does he think he is, back to the pebbles under his shoes, damn, he could still see his back, but not for long now. Tsuzuki watched the rocks protuberant from the otherwise still water. A glance back, Muraki had vanished out of his sight.

What a relief, Tsuzuki sighed, he felt better already, now what to do….

A moment passed,

_Muraki must be a long distance away now, there is no use of searching for him…_

_But what If he meets some angry tribes here, and they get him?.….. Would suit him right, the bastard.._

Another moment passed…

_I'm cold and hungry, and lonely. No, I'm not looking for him._

_But then again, he was the only person whom I knew here, and yes, he's a bastard…_

_But he came across his friend here, who says I can't meet one of my own…_

_What do I do now?_

_I'm__ lonely and scared, maybe if I follow him…_

Tsuzuki followed the path in the grove, left by Muraki as there were no other paths, he presumed that the only one there was, was left by the white doctor.

He'd been walking for what seemed to be hours, there was no change in shadows or amount of light though, as if the time was frozen. However he wasn't completely alone, he heard rustle of leaves, bird calls, animals scattering here and there. He was becoming unnerved, and even a bit scared, animal noises started annoying him more and more, slowly, the state of panic set in, he was desperately looking for any assistance, sign of people, Muraki.

_I must be going crazy, I want to see Muraki, holy Hades!_

Tsuzuki started marching forward nervously, he needed to catch up with that man, because he didn't like being alone. In his haste, he tripped over a thick, gangly root of a tree and landed not so elegantly on his face. He groaned in exasperation, now this, he touched his tender nose. When he looked around from his sprawled position he came face to face with a little, dried-up looking face of an imp. Its yellow eyes were glowing nastily in the dim light of forest undergrowth. Tsuzuki exclaimed and reared back onto his haunches just to get away from the nasty-looking critter. These kinds of things had the nasty habit of popping up in the places one least of all expected them. Now coming nose to nose with the little devil made no improvement in his general attitude to the beastlings. Tsuzuki just ogled it owlishly not certain of what he should do with his new acquaintance. The thing also made no effort of following him, it just stared at the brunet for time being, then swung around neatly and disappeared in the thick leafy flora of the forest, just leaving a trail of moving greenery behind it. Tsuzuki groaned, this spelt trouble, if that thing were to come back with its entire family, the guardian might be in trouble. For their puny size those things were pretty nasty to battle. Their essential means of attack being their tiny little needle-like teeth they didn't seem to be all that dangerous, but the bacteria which lived in the salvia of those creatures caused fever and whatnot, depended on the species of the imp. Watari would have known better but as he was not there, Tsuzuki just had to rake his memory more fervently than usual. Tsuzuki decided that he was not in the mood of getting scratched and bitten that day, so he got up, brushed off his suit and looked around again, no sign of Muraki or anybody else. He cursed his luck and continued walking when suddenly he saw the familiar, not so welcomed glare of yellow eyes again.

The imp had returned, this was bad… Tsuzuki frowned, just as he suspected. Imps were scavengers by nature so whatever was weak or stupid enough not to run from them in time was their meal, apparently, Tsuzuki was stupid enough. He frowned and braced himself for some nasty fighting, but none came. The imp continued staring at him, then swung around and made a couple of hopping movements. Tsuzuki blinked… maybe it was delirious, had eaten some bad mushrooms or something, he continued walking, but the thing caught up with him, stopping before him, and making the same motion again indicating in the same direction as before.

-"You want me to follow you?" Tsuzuki asked not sure why he did that. Imps weren't renowned as a particularly helpful bunch. He sighed, this could either be his way out, or a huge mistake, but seeing as there was nothing better to do, he followed the little beast.

The entire place he was entering differed slightly, it was a little patch in the forest void of trees, he heard the bubbling of water and when he passed the last bushes obscuring his view, he saw an almost divine creature. The attire of the celestial messenger was sparking in the rays of sun which fell from the crack on the forest canopy. The long legs of this creature were bent in a chivalrous manner as if worshipping the source of the water. Its hair was startlingly white with sparkling silver threads woven into it as if its texture was half hair half silk. The figure was leaning over the water, scooping a handful into the elegant palm, and putting the moisture to its mouth. Soft, almost feminine lips opened to receive the crystal clear beverage.

Tsuzuki was startled; he stared at the apparition unsure of how he should proceed. He'd seen them in his long time of serving as a god of death, but what would angels do in this damned place?

-"Mr. Tsuzuki, it's not polite to stare."

The fragile, ethereal feeling was broken to shards by the voice he knew so well. the white man before him was none else than the psychotic doctor – Kazutaka Muraki.

-"I wanted to see for how long you'd ignore me." Tsuzuki countered not wanting to share his reasons of stalling, the man was arrogant enough.

Muraki raised his head to look at Tsuzuki properly, tattered suit, a bruises and cuts every here and there, torn pants, sadly not where it mattered. Muraki frowned.

-"Did you encounter a nest of angry bobcats on your way or is this the latest fashion trend amongst shinigami?" Tsuzuki would have normally walked out on the man, but since there was nowhere particular to go and his aim was finding the man, he stayed.

-"Nothing worth mentioning." the brunet walked closer to the brook, he was thirsty actually. "Is it drinkable?"

-"Quite so. But once you'll have to tell me what happened back there, I was sure you were following me." Muraki sounded genuinely worried. Tsuzuki sighed and took a drink from the running water. The white doctor continued looking at him insistently.

-"What?"

-"I'm waiting for the explanation."

Tsuzuki rolled his eyes. "I was pissed at you, in fact still am, but since you're the only living soul on this godforsaken land, well, you can figure it out from here."

Trusuki glanced at Muraki just to witness one of the nastiest things he was capable of. his serene, angelic expression was slowly pulled into a blood chilling grin.

-"Admit it."

-"Admit what?" Brunet was perplexed.

-"Admit that you need me."

Tsuzuki sputtered. "As soon as hell freezes over, you just wait."

-"Well, do as you please, my dearest, after all, your actions imply just that thing."

-"Oh shut up already." Tsuzuki groaned and stood up.

They were heading towards the clearing, but as they approached, more and more suspicious noises invaded their hearing.

-"Is it me, or do I hear moaning?" Tsuzuki pondered to himself, glancing at Muraki for any kind of acknowledgement. The white man stayed impassive "I don't think we should be going there." Tsuzuki finally declared, looking in the direction of the clearing with growing suspicion. Moments later his attention was consumed by a pretty plant growing nearby with big, white, bell-like blossoms. Tsuzuki bent down to pick up one of the enticing flowers, it emanated a delightful smell that made him a bit dizzy, but not in a bad way. He felt blush spreading over his cheeks and a sudden need to cuddle.

Murakis` attention, however lingered on the unusual landscape, the place seemed to be full of odd, moss-covered bumps, some of them peeked through the mossy green, revealing white substance underneath, like bloated puff-balls. What annoyed him, was the shape of these puff-balls, they all seemed to be approximately the same size.

He frowned, he was about to nudge one of the things with his foot, when hands suddenly grasped him from behind. He hesitated for a split second, accessing who it was. Not so timid hands languidly explored his chest, delving under the shirt in-between the buttons.

Muraki registered a fresh flush over his body, goose-bumps spreading over his skin. He exhaled tremulously casting a glance behind to confirm his suspicions. Surprisingly enough, it was none other than Tsuzuki, currently nuzzling against the side of his neck.

The doctor shivered at the sudden contact. "What's this, Mr. Tsuzuki? Ah-!" Muraki gasped breathlessly as he felt a slick tongue lap up his jugular.

-"What's wrong? Do you think you're the only one who's capable of this huh?" Tsuzuki chuckled seductively and addressed more hot whispers to the studded ear before suckling on the bejeweled lobe. Murakis` heartbeat doubled, he thought he was going to faint from the mixture of adrenalin, arousal and sheer glee. It was paradise, something was wrong!

Having gotten rid of the over-affectionate Tsuzuki, Muraki took a closer look at the weird white globes. He nudged one of them with a foot, unlike puffballs it was harder, he turned it over to reveal a neat white underside with a hole at the base, some sickly greenish liquid was oozing forth from it along with some maggots.

Muraki squinted, this was no rock, it was a scull.

-"What the!" The entire bumpy area was shaped by hundreds of sculls covered by moss.

He looked around to fetch Tsuzuki, but he was already moving in the direction of the clearing, almost like a zombie, mindless of his steps he staggered forth.

The doctor cursed, whatever it was, the reason for it must have been In the clearing. He ran forth and seized the brunette by the shoulders.

-"Just what do you think you're doing!?" This didn't seem to reach through, as Tsuzukis` expression was blank, but his other area, despite anything, was quite alert, as Muraki noticed. Perfect opportunity, but bad timing. Muraki turned around to see what was happening in the uncovered area before them.

In the clearing there were people, many of them, both; old and young, dirty and clean, everyone was in different states of undress, making love to each other. Upon closer inspection it appeared that some of them had died or would die soon, judging by the state of their bodies, all skin and bone but still managing to copulate as if it was their only salvation. The group of people nearest to them was making love to a person which apparently was not breathing anymore. The skin of the corpse had attained a bluish hue and its belly was slightly swollen, indicating that the rotting processes had already started. The partners however seemed to pay no heed to this as they were moaning in unison while rocking their cold lover between their bodies.

Since his libido, especially in near proximity of his desired one was extremely high, it remained a riddle for him, why he was unaffected while the others, including his object of desire had so easily fallen for the allure of the wicked place.

His ponderings were disturbed by a tug of his pants. somehow Tsuzuki had managed undoing his belt without Muraki noticing and now was very eager to pull them down.

The doctor scowled, it was a nightmare – he wanted, yet couldn't, lest the same fate befell him.

He took Tsuzukis` hand gently at first, then tugged it forward roughly and spinning the brunette around, almost dislodging his shoulder joint, just to get him in a convenient wristlock.

-"Darling, you're too hasty for your own good." Muraki whispered into Tsuzukis` ear warmly while the guardian writhed against all pain and restraints just to get closer to the blonde surgeon.

- "I promise you that one day, but not today." The doctor whispered and pressed the carotid artery until Tsuzuki passed out.

Having completed that task, he looked around for the first time properly. During their struggle, he didn't notice that all of the people who'd previously been lying on the ground and copulating like wild animals, had stood up, at least the living ones, and they all were approaching the duo the in same fashion Tsuzuki had exhibited earlier that day. Staggering and unsteady, they approached the two.

Muraki cursed, this was no time and place to have a dead weight on his hands, but he couldn't quite leave Tsuzuki too.

Well, he could but there was this little ownership streak in his character which refused to let the brunette go. Tsuzuki was his for the taking after all, and no way on earth would he allow anybody else laid a finger on him… Which made a little problem, as Count was equally as eager to get into Tsuzukis` pants, but since now there was an entire horde of sex-zombies heading his way, he had to get going. If he could accept sharing Tsuzukis` pants with Count, another half a thousand of volunteers added would make it less than pleasurable.

The surgeon hoisted the limp body on his shoulder and ran. He had to admit with all his sincerity that he'd never ever left a scene in such an embarrassing fashion.

He disappeared in flames of a collapsing building, being almost scorched by the flames of Suzaku - an accomplishment worthy of Houdini himself, he beautifully left the sinking Queen Camellia on a helicopter, promising to bring thousands of roses, he eloquently excused himself from fighting the shadow master by saying that his clothes were dirty, he even left Hades with Tsuzuki in his arms like a deity. Each of his exits was perfectly orchestrated unlike this uneasy retreat. He cursed his luck as he stumbled and almost broke his leg in haste. Maybe having Tsuzuki unconscious was not such a bad thing after all.

Wait a minute... why did he have to run at all? While the goody old two shoes human right protector was not able to stop him, why not?!

-"I call you forth!!! Ohryu!"

The gigantic serpent rose out of the debris of the forest floor, snapping and snaring at the roots and plants obscuring its emergence. Finally, it stood before him, its golden scales glowing dimly with the light of the fading day.

Muraki hoped that calling forth of the monstrous creature would have triggered at least some kind off response in his pursuers, but to his great disappointment nothing happened at all. There was no reaction whatsoever. The people kept on staggering forth, so on that dampening note, the man just ordered.

-"Attack."

There was no need for flourish if Tsuzuki wasn't watching anyway.

The serpent threw its` three heads back in the characteristic fashion, before delivering a blow of blazing fire towards the first ranks of staggering people. Muraki blinked and frowned. The flame seemed to have little effect on them, furthermore, it seemed to go right through them.

Muraki scowled. What`s this then, a hallucination? But then he wasn't the only one seeing this, the dragon wouldn't attack an empty spot, the arrogant beast didn't follow his orders blindly, but it seemed, that the encroaching enemy was intangible and invincible. The white doctor scowled, he had no time and no desire to battle the annoying things, he snapped his fingers again and the gigantic serpent lowered the middle of his three heads to let its master climb it, then, the creature gently took the unconscious Tsuzuki in its` toothy maw and flapped its metal-induced wings in order to take flight.

* * *

/Tsuzuki/ - Watari – does it have to do anything with you?

/Watari/ - Why yes!! I call this project Wardrobe?

/Tsuzuki/ - What We're in a gigantic closet?!!!

/Watari/ - Not a piece of furniture, you silly coot!!! W.A.R.D.R.O.B.E.

/Tsuzuki/ - You don't have to spell it out for me, my grammar's not that bad.

/Muraki/ - My guess is that Mr. Watari meant it like an abbreviation – a shorter version of a bigger name.

/Tsuzzuki/ - Does it have to do anything with the sex change potion?

/Watari/ - How did you guess?

/Tsuzuki/ - Do tell, will my sex be changed or tampered with by the time we get out of this nightmare?

/Muraki/ - I'm sorry, Mr. Watari, could we agree that you leave Mr. Tsuzukis` sex alone? I mean I don't mind him being a girl and all, but men are tighter.

/Tsuzuki clinging to Watari/ -"Please turn him into a girl, please, please, please!!!"

/Muraki/ -"Now seriously, Mr. Watari. Why would you do that?


	4. Old friends on the rocks

Hello, dear readers, it has been a..very long time.

I will not delve into the details of it, but let us say it had been tough.

BUT

As Freddy Mercury once sang - Show must go on.

Thus, please enjoy

The next chapter.

Uhoh, yes, A brief reminder of what the story was about before we kick off:

Once upon a time Muraki and Tsuzuki find themselves in a cave handcuffed together, they do not remember why or how (Muraki might but he never tells)

They end up wandering in a wonky world where they eat stuff from the floor (biscuits and mushrooms), change sizes, fight arachnids, almost get squished, have an Alice in Wonderland experience with the Queen of hearts, nearly get their heads cut off, set buildings on fire, play whack-the-guard, plummet down stairwells, drown in fountains, almost get molested and get knocked out (Tsuzuki for most part). They also meet old friends - Oriya and Ohryou, make new friends...the sex-crazed zombies?

They do converse a lot in their own fashion, flip birds and just act like asses.

* * *

Tsuzuki woke up from loud roars and snarls. He sat up and looked around. The surroundings had changed drastically since he last remembered. Instead of lush greenery there were stones and rocks. Next to him sat the mage and looked down into the valley where the awful noises seemed to be coming from. For the first time he had the chance of seeing Muraki`s expression, it was like cast in porcelain, smooth and unreadable. Tsuzuki followed his gaze and, to his displeasure saw his old friend, Ohryou. He could have sworn that the place where it had scored him with its fire still prickled.

-„Awake already?" Tsuzuki startled for a moment and then composed himself. He was always groggy and disoriented when he woke up.

-"Uh why did you summon it? It will destroy this place." Tsuzuki did not like the dragon one bit. I was not like his regal shikigami; even Touda was never so troublesome.

-„I would have sent her back if I knew how."

Tsuzuki looked at Muraki with a funny expression on his face.

-„Do you usually summon critters only to let them roam freely after you're done with them because you lack the ability to send them back? I mean if we had known that was your problem..."

-„This is not the case, Mr. Tsuzuki;" Muraki interrupted the guardian before he babbled anything more offensive." It appears that whatever we summon stays captured here. Just like us. Surely you've already tried teleporting back to Meifu, haven't you?"

A guilty smile appeared on Tsuzukis` face. "It never occurred to me." The doctor sighed. "Don't bother, it wouldn`t work anyway." The doctor might as well have saved his breath because next moment Tsuzuki tried it and, as he had predicted, failed.

-"Any luck, Mr. Tsuzuki?" The doctor entreated, eyeing the brunettes` failed attempts with ill-disguised amusement.

-"I don`t want to hear you telling me that you told me so." Tsuzuki extended a palm in the direction of doctor before he could utter another word.

-"Well, I have no need of it, since you have so nicely done it yourself."

Tsuzuki was about to object when one particularly strong blast sent splinters of rocks flying in their direction.

-"It sure is angry." He looked at the rampaging dragon below.

-"Wouldn`t blame her, she`s stuck now here with us."

-"She? Why are you so sure? Did you check under her tail or something?" Tsuzuki gave Muraki another funny look.

-"Now don`t think anything lewd, Mr. Tsuzuki, my affections are reserved solely for you." It sounded strangely reassuring until Tsuzuki thought back to just how many people Muraki must have slept with in order to become so apt in the art of seduction. The thought somehow unnerved him. Just remembering the Kyoto case, then it was already 11 prostitutes in one fortnight, actually more 'action' than Tsuzuki had experienced in his entire un-lifetime. Although he was not sure if Muraki had performed anything of the sensual nature with them, granted that it would have provided the police with more vital clues, and judging by their history, Muraki was not that foolish. He looked back at the dragon in order to clear his mind of such disturbing thoughts; currently it was actively clawing the face of the cliff, causing small avalanches to fall on its great golden wings.

-"Is she digging a tunnel? Because it sure looks like that."

-"No, she`s just distressed and taking her anger out." Muraki now sorely wished for a smoke, yet his cigarettes had been wet and he had disposed of them earlier that day, his lighter was also soaked and would not function no matter how much he tried drying it. In the back of his throat he felt a familiar itch which, he knew would grow only more unbearable as the time went on. He plucked a dry stalk of grass and put it between his lips, chewing on one end slightly and imagining it was a cigarette. Meagre as it was, it still helped a little.

-"Isn`t it useless expenditure of energy?" The brunette sat up and now kept watching Muraki for a change.

-"Do you feel like stopping her?" The blonde did not even move his face was directed towards the beast in the valley although his gaze was reaching well past it.

-"Not really."

-"She`s an adolescent, a teenager in dragon world, could you blame her for acting accordingly?" The shinigami thought he was seeing the doctor for the first time, him being understanding? No condescending comments, no mirth and sarcasm? Was he replaced by someone else while Tsuzuki had been unconscious?

-"That thing, a teenager?! Are you sure? She`s too big to be a teenager! Dragons get bigger as they mature, this one is one of the largest ones I`ve seen, and I`d hate to see its mom."

-"That is unlikely."

-"How so? Did you kill her too?"

Muraki had the decency to look unnerved. "No, Mr. Tsuzuki, I have not yet learnt how to absorb the energy of the dragon blood and surely even if I attempted it, I would have been burned to cinders if I tried tapping into that power."

"So, you still prefer picking on those weaker than you."

"That was a while ago, Mr. Tsuzuki, now I`m more interested in somebody my size." He looked at the brunette meaningfully. Tsuzuki fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Aha, you were talking about dragons, Muraki."

Having gotten Tsuzukis` unwavering attention the doctor was more than pleased to continue. "You see, such a thing as size limitations exists even for these creatures. With it being the size it is, it usually doesn`t live many years into maturity. These dragons die young because their bodies cannot support their size. An irony, don`t you think? They have little natural enemies because of the size, but in the end, size is what kills them." Muraki had almost forgotten that he was chewing on a grass stalk instead of a cigarette and reached for it to check how far it had burnt only to realize that it was not a cigarette. He could not have believed that he had become so distracted with Ohryou there.

-"Are you sure it`s not a demon?"

-"Completely. A demon wouldn`t have let me control itself this easily, and not without a sacrifice."

-"Doesn't look like you're controlling her now either."

-"Why would I? Coping with her now would be the same as restraining a pubescent infant, I`d rather save my strength." He frowned, seemingly displeased with himself.

-"It`s taking toll on you, isn`t it?" Tsuzuki looked at the pale wizard; he looked more tired than usual, somewhat even more ghost-like. He had never seen the doctor behaving like that before. Even in face of evident peril, he smirked and jibed and snarked back, now, however, he resembled a rapidly deflating balloon – somehow even more tired. Muraki did not reply, so Tsuzuki entreated another approach.

-"How much energy do you spend on making your summons behave?" Tsuzuki asked seeing that the man was currently more willing to cooperate and actually give information.

The man in question turned his head towards the guardian of death and studied him for a moment. "To what do I owe this sudden interest in my person?" Tsuzuki could almost see Muraki acting much like a snake that flattens its scales to its body to avoid an intrusive leech. There passes the informative streak.

-"Curiosity and getting acquainted with your limits, seeing as I`m going to witness them sooner or later I might as well be ready."

Muraki sighed, relaxed his features and took the offending straw which he had been chewing for some time now and let the wind blow it out of his fingers."Normally I would not disclose such information in favour of my safety, however, seeing as now it is unavoidable… let us put it this way, Mr. Tsuzuki, I`ll need more energy soon." He was becoming more depleted than he had expected, however even in light of such circumstances he was aware that giving the guardian too much information would mar his chances of survival in the future.

He craved for a more monotonous setting whilst having endured the changing, progressively more dangerous environments. He did not have his cigarettes and the entire thing was becoming a hassle, he was longing for his comfortable bed, fresh blood and his butler with a tray of tea.

-"By that you mean food?" the doctor turned his head towards Tsuzuki smiling one of those smiles he seemingly reserved for the guardian – the mix between haunting and leering.

-"By that I mean blood, my dear Tsuzuki."

-"Why?" Tsuzuki asked completely deadpan, never having understood Murakis` obsession with blood, apart from creeping him out and driving him up the wall that is.

"If you want to be clinical about it, I convert the essence within the blood of individual."

"Ah, so that is how you can cast spells and other things." At that point Muraki felt like facepalming himself. Had he learnt nothing from their previous encounters?

"Yes, that is quite so, Mr. Tsuzuki. Out of curiosity, how did you think I managed causing such havoc all by myself?"

Tsuzuki tapped his chin. "You know, usually with you around I was preoccupied with things more important than the source of your troublemaking-powers, such as surviving, not getting raped and such?"

Muraki shook his head, it was far from him to point out to a shinigami how to do his job, but he had the slightest inkling that he might have been better at it.

"Surely the thought must have crossed your mind? Do you not normally investigate your suspects?"

"Well with you the clues were so rare and far in between that we never bothe…"

"What?" Muraki was appalled and this time he was not sure if it was because of the lack of importance the ministry bestowed on his matter or just the manner in which they conducted their investigations in general."May I ask just how you go about your cases? Because it does not seem like you are putting much effort into your work."

"Jeez you sound like Tatsumi." Tsuzuki groaned.

"The shadow master?"

"The very same, who is also the chief accountant. However, usually beating around the bush is not the case." Tsuzuki admitted remembering the investigation they had undergone in Hijiris` case. "Actually the handling method of your case was very, very strange. Are you sure you have no bribed people at the ministry?"

This was sheer audacity, even Muraki himself had not thought of something so ingenious, but then again, what could you bribe a dead man with? "I must admit that I had not thought of it myself, yet it does sound like an excellent idea. Could you perhaps suggest someone 'suitable'?"

Tsuzuki snorted, "Well, had you not had a row with Tatsumi, he would have gladly sold me to you for a ridiculous amount of money."

"Does he do that often? Is it a seasonal event?" Muraki was only half-joking, but Tsuzuki smiled embarrassed.

"Usually he does it after the department is in the red."

"And that happens?"

"Whenever I wreak havoc or there are damages that are somehow associated with me."

Muraki frowned pensive "Does he take American Express?" Tsuzuki fell over and giggled. "Trust me, you`d have to join the long waiting list."

"Not unless my bribed agent helps me." Tsuzuki chortled and held his sides, for some reason like this, being with Muraki was not depressing or even scary.

He saw Murakis` brow tighten suddenly

-"As soon as she senses that I`m weakened, she will attack me to free herself from her servitude." It took Tsuzuki a while to comprehend the out-of topic remark.

-"Looks like you`ve summoned your death then." Much to Murakis` dismay Tsuzuki did not seem to be very upset about the fact, figures, the man thought, after all, Asato was a guardian of death, an unusual one, but the profession left marks on everyone's character, especially when it came to troublesome individuals, such as Muraki himself. He wondered just how preoccupied had the Hades been since his disappearance. If the event had taken Oriya with him into this twisted world, there was no saying which other people had been involved, and as far as he could recognize it, Oriya, for all his strung up peevishness was the friendliest of people he was about to meet, if some of Tsuzukis` colleagues were in there too.

-"Ho, not the appreciative bunch, are we?"

Tsuzuki frowned. "Just what do you mean by that?"

-"Had I not summoned her, we would have both ended up on the floor of that forest with our brains being literally fucked out of our bodies." Muraki stated and awaited for the signs of recognition in Tsuzukis` face. To his utter dismay, he did not see any.

Muraki sighed; perhaps he would need a different approach.

"What do you remember before you lost consciousness today?"

"Before you blatantly knocked me out, you mean?"

Muraki seemed annoyed, but it was the truth in this case. "Details, details, Mr. Tsuzuki." He mustered a token of his trademark smile.

The brunette rubbed his chin."I remember, mm, getting out on this shore, finding you…" he frowned "I think I hallucinated the last bit."

-"Do you remember having touched me of your free will?" Muraki asked casually.

Tsuzuki made a short derisive sound through his lips"What?! Are you delirious? I mean, who is the serial molester here?"

-"I `m serious, can`t you tell, dear guardian of mine?"

-„No way in Hell would I ever do that! I`m not like you!"

-„Then who is responsible for this?" Muraki tilted his head to the side revealing a couple of purple smudges just below the jaw.

Tsuzukis` eyes were wide as saucers. „Please, tell me it`s not true."

-„I`m afraid there was no one else who could have done that. Now, Mr. Tsuzuki, I am willing to know if you indeed dislike it so much, I remember you being quite enthusiastic." Tsuzuki blanched and seemed unsure of him, he scratched his head.

-"I, don`t know, it was too hazy." He had not acted consciously anyway so there was no point of giving Muraki even more resources to prove his point.

Muraki glanced at Tsuzuki sideways showing that he did not believe Tsuzuki was telling him everything and then returned his stare skywards. "What we encountered today was odd. We came across a place where people were copulating with each other for no apparent reason, seems like it influenced you as well, but not me. The area resembled an open cemetery, as there were dead bodies in different states of decomposition. Also, when we started moving away, the people who had been previously unaware of our presence started following us. However, when Ohryou attacked them, they were not harmed, like if they were thin air. Mr. Tsuzuki, have you ever seen anything like this?" The shinigami furrowed his brow; this was the time when he really missed the Gushoshin brothers who actually knew those things. "I wish I could consult the library on this, or at least Watari."

"This is why I chose a plateau with little to no vegetation. Seems like it was a forest of ghosts or a forest of illusion. Either way I assume it had something to do with the vegetation in that area."

Tsuzuki furrowed his forehead "As if plants were trying to sustain themselves in this meagre soil."

Muraki locked his stare with Tsuzuki. "What did you say?"

"Well, I have something that people call a 'green thumb' when it comes to plants. I used to do my fair share of gardening when I was a kid." He sighed and looked to the side. "As far as I`ve noticed, everywhere where we`ve been in this new place, there is practically no soil that is useful for plants, only rocks and cliffs which normally could not sustain a forest. So if your assumption is correct, we should be wary of plants here."

Muraki sighed and plucked out a small growth next to his side, just in case.

As for Tsuzuki, he tapped his chin as if trying to recall something. "I remember a sweet cloying smell before everything turned weird. What surprises me is that you were not affected by it."

"I guess you might have forgotten, but a similar case happened to me on Queen Camelia." Tsuzuki jogged his memory and indeed recollected that issue. "True, they said you were dead by poisoning."

"Which brings me to a conclusion that this was a toxin of sorts, strangely enough, a toxin which I had previously come across." Muraki stated with furrowed brow. He meditated a bit; recounting each and every poison which he had forced himself to take in order to develop the resistance. He remembered how once he had overdosed and spent the next 24 hours in a coma, discovered by Oriya by sheer luck and hospitalized. No matter how painstaking it had been, he was once again grateful for the fact that he had taken up those inconveniences all those years ago.

Tsuzuki took queue to break the lingering silence "What I do not understand is that you did not take advantage of the situation, I was literally all over you."

Muraki smiled and cast another glance at Tsuzuki, if he wanted to be frank, he would have loved to stay there and enjoy the moment, but he was disturbed by the wraiths. "Now you remember, don`t you." He smiled warmly at Tsuzukis` outraged expression and continued. "Elementary, dear Watson, you were under a spell, and taking you there would have been most ungentlemanly." At this statement Tsuzuki lifted a questioning eyebrow.

"This never seemed to stop you before."

Muraki chuckled and sighed "I must be getting old then".

"What are you going to do about your mana expenditure? At this rate you`ll exert your resources and end up killed by your own summons." Tsuzuki asked genuinely interested.

"Not unless I find a good source." This made Tsuzuki frown.

-"Which isn`t likely, and secondly, I won`t let you."

-"Then I would appreciate you not letting her kill me."

Tsuzukis` mouth dropped open at the sheer audacity of the sudden request

-"You are pretty sure of yourself, thinking that I would help you." Muraki half smiled, yet the gesture did not reach his eyes. "I am afraid that you have little choice, Mr. Tsuzuki, would you prefer unleashing a rampaging dragon on some unsuspecting victims?"

-"Please, I`ll just summon…" Tsuzuki stopped there, summoning any of his shikigami would result in them also being stuck in this bizarre dimension, and he could not go for that.

-"I am pleased that we have established a common ground." Muraki leant closer to the man. "There is no need of summoning even more familiars into this setting, is there? And as it had been proven in the long run, the dragon may come in handy, when dealing with things we encounter here." Silence lingered between them.

Tsuzuki looked again into the valley where the restless dragon was still making displays of anger.

"How do you bind these creatures? Normally summoning and maintaining them should not require such physical exertion."

"Mr Tsuzuki, I`m not a guardian of death, my resources are limited." Tsuzuki had tread on something sort of sensitive patch for Muraki, talking about his skills and how he did things. Being a self-studied man in his darker arts, he disliked some fallacies being pointed out to him that way. Especially not by the guardian of death, who was so prone to fallacies himself. However if Tsuzuki noticed the slight bristling in Murakis` demeanour, he paid no heed to it.

"No, it is not that, just seems like you choose a very mana-inefficient technique."

Muraki looked at Tsuzuki for a moment, as if hearing the word 'inefficient' in Tsuzukis` lexicon was like spotting a yeti – rare and highly improbable.

"Are you going to give me a lecture on summoning, Mr. Tsuzuki?" Muraki asked wearily, he was a tad suspicious about Tsuzukis` questioning and ways he managed himself with his familiars.

"Seeing as you already have summoned it, it will be near-impossible to change the rate." Tsuzuki sighed, "However your flaw, much as many of other summoners, is that you establish a master-servant relationship with the summoned."

"Sounds like you speak out of experience, Mr. Tsuzuki." Muraki noted with slight sarcasm.

"For that matter, I do – I`ve seen so many fail at binding their shikigami because they wanted to boss them around."

"You do realize that handling this dragon is nowhere near like a shikigami."

Tsuzuki looked at him slightly humoured with what Muraki could only distinguish as a glint of superiority, seriously, the gall of that shinigami, "You know, I`ve mastered twelve shikigami, among them, dragons too, so stop being such a smartass and just take a piece of advice."

Muraki looked at him in earnest surprise. "Most impressive. If I`m not mistaken, you are the only one to date who has managed getting it done."

Tsuzuki looked surprised. "How did you know?"

"Mr. Tsuzuki, you do take my obsession with you far too lightly, don`t you?" The brunette snickered.

"You know, I hardly ever took you for the fangirl-type of the psychopath."

"I`m most offended by this declaration, Mr. Tsuzuki, has any fangirl ever gone through so much hassle just to have your attention?" Tsuzukis` features darkened, Muraki wished he had bitten his tongue there and then. He had been very pleased that their conversations had not delved into those more sinister grounds, yet their temporary truce had lasted only that long. Their less fortunate past was bound to bubble up to the surface sooner or later like a carcass of a drowned man. He sighed internally at the imminent storm of accusations.

"You call murdering people a 'hassle'?! How dare you joke about something like this?!" the guardian was so furious he had stood up and was glaring at the blond doctor menacingly.

Muraki merely turned his head towards the brunette; he refused being cowed even now that Tsuzuki towered above him. "Mr. Tsuzuki, it is counterproductive to state the obvious. Much as you have noticed, I am not as bothered by sacrificing human lives as you are, which is why, as you put it, I dare. However it was not my intention to antagonize our current setting in the face of you being so gentle-natured towards those who are weaker."

Tsuzuki narrowed his eyes. The doctor sounded like he really had meant it especially the last part. The spiritual strain on Muraki was becoming more evident on him. "I could deal with you here and now. You have no scheme and no blackmail material to fall onto." Tsuzuki hissed.

Muraki just snorted "The almighty guardian of death finally delivering the crushing blow to his foe? The thought must exhilarating né? Almost sounds like something I might do." The words cut, spiritually depleted or not, Muraki was a force to be reckoned with, he was right in this case, Tsuzuki was not like him, he could not strike Muraki down, not when he was not even able to have a fighting chance.

The white man looked at Tsuzuki speculatively. "I would not take offence if you did, though, Mr. Tsuzuki, I`ve certainly put you through enough to deserve such treatment."

Tsuzuki shook his head. "You do not get it, do you? Every life is precious while it lasts, including yours, no matter how much I hate to admit that. You were the only person I`ve intentionally tried killing after joining the shinigami and believe it or not, I`ve regretted doing it, even in face of you being the way you are. I do not take pleasure in shedding your blood."

Muraki scrunched his nose in disgust. "Do me a favour, Mr. Tsuzuki and stop regarding me as one of your herding lambs."

"If I`m not mistaken just a moment ago you implied just that." Tsuzuki shot back.

"Not exactly, Mr. Tsuzuki, what I had implied was a cooperation, not being taken care of like some lower form of existence."

"There is no shame in admitting weakness, Muraki." The brunette stated gently, seeing how the doctor struggled to be in control. "I hope you`d come to realize it one day."

"Mr. Tsuzuki, I would not be conversing with you here and now if I had that approach." The doctor retorted.

Tsuzuki shook his head disapprovingly. "Just how long are you going to deny that you need help, Muraki?"

"I would have 'helped myself' as you eloquently put it, Mr. Tsuzuki, had there been a single living soul around from which to absorb the energy, unfortunately I`m denied this privilege."

Muraki was even more irked by how Tsuzuki looked at him; compassion was the last thing he needed at the moment. He stood up and started heading towards the raging dragon, dealing with it was more than a pleasant distraction from their tedious conversation. Upon seeing this, Tsuzuki panicked, he caught Muraki by the arm, the doctor stopped, but he did not turn around, lest his face betrayed his intentions.

"Wait, Muraki. If it is causing you so much pain, you could feed from me for time being" The doctor released a long-held breath _Finally._ He knew that having the guardian offer himself would have been much more convenient than persuading him to give.

"Are you sure, Mr. Tsuzuki? It is bound to be a draining experience for you."

"As long as you do not take the life away from the living, I will comply." Tsuzuki stated. It was music to Murakis` ears. "But" Tsuzuki continued "If you touch a single hair on the head of anyone else, I promise you this, Muraki, you will regret it." That suited the doctor just fine. And on more levels than one, the way Tsuzuki had phrased it made him sound almost like a jealous lover...

"Mr. Tsuzuki… I`m humbled by your generous offer." Muraki stated with reverence. "But, I must decline; I am not willing to take your blood as a gesture of clemency." Tsuzuki rolled his eyes exasperated and said "Stop being so darn obstinate, just take it and be over with it." That was that, no more need for false pretence. He looked up and down the guardians` body.

"I will need you to get into a comfortable position, Mr. Tsuzuki, it might take a while and I would want you to..." The brunette stopped him. "I remember quite well how you did it back on Queen Camelia, Muraki; I can take this, so just get over with it."

Muraki looked appalled "I would hate making this as rushed as back then. Such lack of finesse." He shook his head. "It indeed is shameful how I had conducted myself the very first time I`d fed from you. Something I hope to rectify, Mr. Tsuzuki, so, would you please make yourself as comfortable as the circumstances allow?" And he sounded damn earnest about that too.

Muraki took off his coat and folded it neatly to create some cushioning for Tsuzukis` body. He ushered the brunette to take a seat. In the meantime he undid his own tie and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. Upon spotting the struggle Tsuzuki has put up with his own damp clothing, he knelt to assist.

"Please, let me do this." Muraki instructed however there was no pleading in his tone. Tsuzuki lowered his hands and watched the doctor in action. It was pleasant to see him distracted with something else than his person. Seeing the concentration on the doctors` face as he deftly unbuttoned the shirt, trying not to rush through the activity but failing to disguise the fine tremor in his fingers. There, the shirt was undone and Muraki smoothed it off Tsuzukis` shoulders gently, as if he was undressing his lover or a doll.

Tsuzuki trembled from the contact. "I will be gentle, Mr. Tsuzuki," The doctor promised and carefully tilted the guardians` head to the side. Strangely it reminded him of their last parting in the Kyoto university where he had similarly granted the unconscious Tsuzuki token comfort. He swallowed hard and lowered his face to the place where the shoulder met the neck and inhaled deeply, the skin throbbed lightly from the pulse. This was not the fragile Tsuzuki anymore; it was by his offer and not unconscious compliance that they found themselves in this situation again. Strangely through the traumatic event back in the lab they both had changed, for better or worse, it was difficult to say, especially in his case, but now he could surely claim that the cycle of vengeful existence had come to a close for him and he had the privilege of still having Tsuzuki.

Tsuzuki`s heart rate escalated, it indeed was taking a long time, and Muraki had not even started. He did not fear physical pain much, he knew that he would heal in no time, but this sudden closeness made him feel very awkward.

"Any time, Muraki?" And he felt the tongue lap up his jugular. An involuntary shiver coursed down his spine. "It tickl….Ah!" He registered Murakis` teeth sinking into his flesh like scalpel. He did not register the initial sting, but he surely felt how the blood was sucked away from the wound. The feeling was hardly what Tsuzuki could call 'nice', but the doctor kept to his word, he was not causing altogether more discomfort than necessary. Before long, Muraki retreated and sat on his haunches, panting, lips stained red. He did not let the blood to go to a waste and licked his lips. "Mr. Tsuzuki, are you cold?"

"Uh, what?" Tsuzuki was dazed and he felt sluggish, something was happening to him. He registered how Muraki put a knee between Tsuzukis` legs and approached him again, heat spread over his cheeks from the intimate proximity. The doctor tilted his head to the side where he had bitten him and nuzzled the uninjured side of his neck still hungry for more. Murakis` gaze was heavy-lidded, he rubbed his hand through Tsuzukis` hair "I`ve always dreamt to have you like this, willing to accommodate me. I was wrong in thinking that breaking you was necessary to attain this. But I`m a brutal man, and I derive pleasure from it." Tsuzukis eyes flashed open only to register the sharp pain as the man bit into his neck with wolf-like viciousness. The pain was paralyzing, he could not even move. Seems like the taste of blood spurred him on instead of calming him. Tsuzuki bit back a cry, but the assault was already over, the doctor had reigned in his bloodlust. To Tsuzukis` embarrassment tears shone in his eyes when the doctor lifted his head to inspect the state Tsuzuki was in.

"Did it hurt that much?"

Tsuzuki gulped but was still unable to reply.

"Hush, it is all over now." Muraki scooped the guardian in his arms and let his head rest against his chest. He placed the chin on the top of Tsuzukis` head gently and sighed with contentment. The more brutal part or their transaction came from the point when he had instinctively shifted into killing mode. Normally he would have ended the victims` life at that moment.

Unnoticed to them both, thin, thread-like roots started weaving their way towards them across the rocky surface, delving deeper into the harsh rock. Small buds started erupting along the way, bursting into small, white bell-like flowers and attracting small creatures with cloying scent. A forest of ghost-like transparent arms stretched in the direction of the clear plateau, staggering feet moved across the surface without making a sound.

* * *

Those sex-zombies are a cumbersome bunch, are they not? Following people around, moaning like crazy, not using contraception. This was a tad less humor-filled chapter comparing to others, but, well, grumble.

Speaking of which; now having updated again I noticed the new spell checking system here. Not that I would complain when computer helps me finding my blunders and typos, but why does it have to tell me its` opinion on text? Since when a word 'individual' is considered complex. Since when using simple language is a measure of how well the text is comprehended? And since when has my passive voice been out-of-order?

End rant.


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